


Breaking the Bounty

by TheBlondeRecluse



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst and Humor, Captivity, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Humor, Inappropriate Humor sometimes, It's not as bad as it sounds I swear!, Past Child Abuse, Rape, Rape Recovery, Stockholm Syndrome, Violence, fucked up stuff, held captive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-29 02:54:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 62,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3879469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlondeRecluse/pseuds/TheBlondeRecluse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all seemed so easy this morning. Snipe this guy out. Go home and collect the bounty. Figure things out from there.</p><p>"Wait, so what? I'm your maid now?"</p><p>"Not exactly. Think of yourself more like an indentured servant." This cant be happening…</p><p> </p><p>You know the drill, all of the Akatsuki, two OC's enter if you dare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was starting to get late and there was still not a sign of this guys associate leaving anytime soon. The bounty hunter growled to herself and rubbed her shoulder she had her sniper riffle pressed against for the past several hours. Her body was stiff from lying on the ground so long but she had to be patient. Who ever this Hidan guy was there was a huge bounty over his head. She didn't care what the organization was or why he was in it but he had a pretty pay and when you're living paycheck to paycheck its rare a job like this comes your way. Usually pay days like this don't stay on the table for long.

In any case she'd spent the last two months tracking his ass down. For someone with such a high bounty, he sure made a lot of public appearances with out getting caught. The bounty hunter smirked.  _He must be one cocky bastard_. The bounty hunter pulled the sniper close when she saw movement. False alarm. Her shoulders sagged, but she kept on her guard. From what she'd gathered Hidan was supposed to be making some kind of transaction with the associate, but she had to wait until the associate was gone or at least out of range before she sniped this guy.

If she snipped him out right then and there with the associate as a witness things might go bad. He could call in back up and figure out her position, or worse…take the body himself for the bounty. The bounty hunter wasn't going to let that happen. All she had at this point was the equivalent of about 40 bucks and that won't get her far.  _This mission can't go wrong._  That was another thing odd about this job… He's worth more dead than alive… that's pretty unusual. The bounty hunter shook it off and kept her eyes on the prize.

She couldn't hear what was going on but, just knew it was still going to be a while before anything happened. Normally since its only two guys she'd just snipe 'em both, considering their line of work. Who ever the associate was without a doubt was no saint if getting involved with a sick fuck like this guy. But unfortunately she didn't have a clear shot for either of them at the moment and just had to wait it out until they moved. The bounty hunter had spent enough time tracking this guy, she could wait a little longer.

After what seemed like another few hours, and was now probably around 3 in the morning, the two parted. The bounty hunter waited until enough distance was between the two before engaging a strike. It took a little longer to line up the shot she needed. If she shot his head from here he might not be recognizable enough to get paid for. Instead she lined up the shot and fired three shots through the heart. The man dropped almost instantly. The hunter waited about 10 minutes for something to happen, before deciding it was okay to move. She stood straight up and stretched her stiff limbs.  _Oh my god as soon as I get paid I'm finding an Inn and taking a nice long bath!_  She fantasized.

It was short lived however for as soon as she began to gather up her things she felt a hand clasp around her ankle. The next thing she knew was she was dangling upside down by some black and white split Venus flytrap man who was rooted to the ground like a tree.

"Hello!" it practically sang before sinking back into the ground and dragging the hunter down with it. In a panic the hunter tried to grab at anything she could get her hands on but to no avail. Before she could even yell anything out she was underground and taken from her ledge overlooking the dirt road in the forest.

Pein sat in his office thumbing through his paper work when Zetsu suddenly appeared in front of his desk. Pein looked up curious as to why the man was reporting back so soon.

"What is it Zetsu, how was the mission?" Pein asked.

About a half mile from the small village by the Akatsuki's secret base Hidan was supposed to rendezvous with a client for a potential business investment in the future. It wasn't ideal that Hidan be the one to discuss the basic details, but this was a shady transaction being made and if anyone can tell when they're being screwed over it was Hidan. Aside from that he was the only one going to be in the area for that time slot. None the less Zetsu was assigned as back up to scout out the area and keep an eye on things. So here lies the question. Pein thought.  _What went wrong?_

"The mission was a success."  **"Though shortly after an assassination was attempted on Hidan's life."** Pein barely looked phased by this but asked none the less

"How is he?"

"Hidan is fine."  **"It's the assassin that is questionable."** Zetsu growled.

"How so?"

" **She attacked with some sort of long range weapon."**  "I'd only heard of them in urban legends" Peins eyebrows knit together.

"What kind of weapon?" he questioned. Now he was getting interested.

"It looked like a modified pipe."

"How far was the range of weapon?"

" **Farther than we anticipated."** "It fired from outside the area we had scouted."  **"From where Hidan was you wouldn't have been able to hear it fire."** "Though we fire a test shot from the machine and it was quit loud up close."

"The Accuracy?"

" **Accurate. Three wounds to the heart."**

Pein let out a breath. He didn't like this he knew the ranges Zetsu searched. To have a weapon that accurate from that far away was unsettling. No not just that.  _Unthinkable._  He had heard of some far off land that used guns, but didn't ever think he'd see any. He didn't even particularly believe such a thing existed. At least not ones this good.

"Is she a threat?" he finally asked.

"We do not think so."  **"Had it been anyone normal she was firing at they would be dead."** "But, the girl barely noticed our presence until we had her in our palm."  **"If she had had any shinobi training she would have had better reactions."** "Without her machine she's as harmless as a civilian."

"Anything else?"

" **No."**

Pein sighed and lean back in his seat in silence. As if trying to solve some kind of great philosophical mystery. He had asked all the questions he needed for the moment. So why was he looking for more?

"We just thought it was something worth looking into."  **"It seemed a bit odd…"**  Pein nodded.

"Very well, bring her in for questioning." Pein said and waved Zetsu off.

"Bye the way Zetsu, where is she right now?" Pein asked as Zetsu sank through the floor to leave. If he was here, where was the assassin? Zetsus black half smiled sadistically.

" **We left her about six feet under while we talked this over."** He said as his head went through the floor. Pein stared at the floor where Zetsu had just been as it sank in.  _Zetsu left that girl underground the entire time we were talking! For his sake he better hope she's still alive. I need to look into this still…_

This all seemed very suspicious. A strange assassin with a weapon only heard about from urban legends, being wielded by some one with the fighting skills of an average civilian…not to mention the timing. Conveniently after the transaction. Where had this assassin come from…and more importantly  _who_  sent her here.

Kakuzu strolled along the narrow dirt road that traveled through the forest suitcase of money in hand. He was off on business the past week and was supposed to meet up with Hidan on the way back to the base. Kakuzu growled inwardly. Hidan without a doubt most likely didn't want to wait around and ditched.  _That would be just like him to blow off work and hit up some strip joint or whore house…and run up a tab._  When Kakuzu got around a bend however he saw someone lying in the middle of the road surrounded by blood.

Once he got close he stopped in front of the fallen person who just happened to be his idiot partner. Hidan glared up at Kakuzu.

"The fuck you lookin' at?!" he snarled.

"How did the Mission go?" Kakuzu demanded. Hidan suddenly looked pissed.

"Oh I'm fucking terrific Kakuzu. Thanks a fucking lot for asking…fucker." He grumbled the last bit. Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

"What happened?"

"I don't fucking know! Once that other sonova Bitch left I was minding my own fucking business then all of a sudden some shit went through my chest and it hasn't healed yet!" he exclaimed. Kakuzu paused before saying;

"What I got out of that was I should go on without you." And then starting to walk off.

"No you asshole! Where do you think your-Hey! COME BACK AND FIX ME YOU FUCKING DOUCHEBAG!" Hidan yelled. The wound to his heart had left him in a weakened state. Getting up was out of the question until it healed. Kakuzu turned on his heals and approached his fallen partner.

"How much you got on you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Hidan gaped at Kakuzu. He couldn't believe at a time like this- okay he could, but still.

"What?! Nothing!"

"Nice try Hidan, but I know you always have carrying money when your missions are this close to villages." Bar tab, sure. But whores were pricy. Kakuzu whisked some threads out and sent them under Hidans cloak to get at his wallet. Only…he didn't find a pocket.

"Hidan…are you not wearing pants?" Kakuzu asked hoping so bad he was. Hidan just looked at him with a pervy smirk.

"I said I had nothing on me haha!" Hidan laughed. Kakuzu quickly removed his hand from Hidans cloak and punched him in the jaw. Unfortunately for Kakuzu it didn't stop Hidan from laughing.

"Oy! What was that for? I'm not the one that was feeling me up! Haha!" he taunted earning another punch in his jaw from Kakuzu.

Begrudgingly Kakuzu leaned down to take a better look at the deep wound in Hidans chest. From what he could see Hidans body had already started to try and heal itself, but for whatever reason had stopped. When Kakuzu willed his threads to stitch Hidan up he found the issue.

"AHH! Kakuzu! What the hell are you doing?!" Hidan yelled as he felt Kakuzus threads digging into heart.

"Hold still." Kakuzus low rumbling voice warned. Hidan grit his teeth and groaned in his throat the pain stopped and Hidan could clearly see a bent up wad of metal dangling from Kakuzus threads.

"What the fuck?..."

"Hm." Almost as soon as it was gone Hidan felt better, and his wound was allowed to heal. For finishing touched Kakuzu stitched up the wound so Hidan wouldn't lose any more blood. He'd be damned if he was going to carry his blood-loss ass back to the base. Curious, Kakuzu, none to gently, hoisted Hidan forward.

"Kakuzu! What the fuck!" the weakened immortal squirmed. Two more metallic wads fell from his back and into the blood he had been lying in. Though the exit wounds had already stopped bleeding, Kakuzu figured if he didn't stitch it up his whiney partner would just bitch about it the entire way home.

For the hell of it Kakuzu kept his hand on Hidans hunched over figure and prevented the albino from getting up. Hidan was in the middle of yelling how he was going to sacrifice Kakuzu to Jashin, when Zetzu sprouted from the ground not far away. Hidan only stopped his rant when he remembered Zetsu was supposed to have his back. He only looked at him for half a second before starting up again.

"What the  _HELL_  Zetzu! I thought you were supposed to be my fucking back up! I-."

" **Quit your whining before I get a head ache."** "Meet us at the top of that ridge. I'll explain on the way back to the base." Zetzu said than seeped back through the ground.

"What fucking ridge?" Hidan said as he got up. Kakuzu pointed behind him to a large ridge quite a ways away. "Oh…"

"You had to ask…"

Kakuzu looked down at the two bits of metal on the ground then at the one he extracted from Hidans chest. However it had gotten in his chest, two of them had made there way out, and one had gotten lodged in Hidans heart and prevented him from healing. Which made Kakuzu wonder how they had gotten there in the first place. They had to have been going fast to not only pierce through him but get stuck before his body could reject it properly…Zetzu had better have some answers.

The bounty hunter woke to the sounds of people walking. She tried to move, but found it very constricting. Her eyes eased open. Her wrists were bound together in something black and from what she could tell who ever was carrying her also held the other end of the rope _._  With a gasp the hunter realized she had been caught, and struggled to free her bound wrists, but to no avail. However her frantic arm movement had alerted her captors that she was now awake.

Kakuzu threw the small body off his shoulder. The bounty hunter wasn't expecting this and hadn't got her balance. She ended up falling on her ass, prompting Hidan to point and laugh. Her lip curled and she glared at the laughing man in front of her. Then in a flash she remembered what had happened before she was caught. Waiting on the ground. Shooting her target. Being dangled upside down by a mutant cactus. And being drug under ground. At that thought she realized she was completely covered in dirt. Ignoring that for the time being she snapped her gaze back on the albino mocking her. More so the wound on the left side of his bare chest.  _How is he still alive…I got him right through the heart…I never miss._  She thought gravely.  _I watched him fall…_

When Kakuzu and Hidan had made it to the top of the ridge Zetsu had explained the situation and answered what answers he could as promised. After learning the small person lying on the ground was the one who had wounded Hidan it took 45 minutes to calm Hidan down so he wouldn't slaughter their prisoner before Pein could interrogate further. To their annoyance it turned out the reason Zetsu had them meet atop the ridge was so they could mule back the prisoner and gear. Kakuzu through the small body over his shoulder and Hidan gathered up the gear in a duffel bag. Things went fine until the prisoner woke up.

As soon as the hunter had gotten up Kakuzu had barked that she could walk on her own now and gave a forceful tug on the rope and continued to walk. The bounty hunter eyed the two suspiciously. The one holding her rope had most of his face covered so there wasn't much to make out other than deeply tanned skin and discolored eyes. On first glance she had almost commented on them, but with the stoic menacing vibe he gave off…not to mention his towering height, she bit her tongue.

The other, her former target now captor, she could see up close now. He had pale skin silver hair and lavender eyes. To say he was funny looking didn't fit right, but he was…different. They both wore black body length jacket like clothes, with a red cloud pattern every so often.  _Must be from that organization they're from._  The hunter concluded. The only difference between the two's outfits was Hidans. The top half of his cloak was torn it only covered one arm. He wasn't wearing a shirt either so everybody got a full view of his bare torso. The bounty hunter had to admit. It took guts to walk around like that.  _Heh. Just like I thought. One cocky bastard._

She would have been smirking if it weren't for the fact that she was beyond annoyed right now. Who ever caught her had searched her and took all her hand weapons. Knifes, tazzer, pistols, explosives…they even took her whip she used instead of a belt. She didn't need a belt most the time but it was a good place to keep it if she needed it. That however wasn't to bad. What made her absolutely livid was the fact that they had taken her prized sawed off shotgun her brother had given her. Basically even if she knew where she was, if she tried to escape she'd be defenseless. To top it all off the undead bastard who was supposed to be dead, was going through all her shit in the duffel bag. Every so often he would ask what something was, which she wouldn't even look back to see what it was.

Eventually Hidan was starting to get pissed off from being ignored. Without half a second of thought he grabbed his scythe and hit the prisoner on the top of her head.

"Hey, I'm talking at you!" he snapped. The bounty hunter whipped around and stared at him. Hidan smirked at the wide eyed fury in such a small person. He held out an object in his had and asked

"What. Is. This." The hunter barely recognized the object in his hand as one of her pistols and snarling.

"An ear cleaner! The hell does it look like?! Go ahead stick it in your ear and pull the trigger!" and she turned back around.

"Really?" she barely heard the word escape his mouth before she head a shot ring out followed by the sound of his body falling on the ground. Both Kakuzu and the bounty hunter turned around to see half of Hidans head was gone. Kakuzu instantly had the girl two feet off the ground by the front of her shirt.

"What the hell happened?" he shouted at the equally surprised prisoner.

"I don't know! He just shot himself!" Ignoring the fact that she had pointed out the obvious Kakuzu pressed further.

"Why did you just tell him to do this!" Kakuzu yelled. The prisoner squirmed in his grasp. She was probably trying to escape. Kakuzu thought.

"I didn't think he would actually do it! What idiot doesn't know a gun when he sees one! I didn't know he seriously didn't know what it was!" she muttered frantically.

"We don't have weapons like those around here!"

"I didn't know! I've only been here a few months!" the hunter struggled under Kakuzus grip. He glared at her for another moment before lowering her from his face. It had escalated from explanations to straight up bickering. Good lord Hidan was rubbing off on him.

"Your not from around here are you?" he finally said to the shaken prisoner. She frantically shook here head no. Kakuzu growled and dropped the small prisoner on the ground. Maybe it was the look of absolute shock on her face or the overall shaken appearance from Hidans little stunt, but Kakuzu believed it was unintentional. Kakuzu stared down as the prisoners shook while trying to stand up again. He couldn't help but notice she wouldn't take her eyes off Hidan.

"Whays wrong? Never seen a dead body before?" Kakuzu taunted. The hunter gave him a dirty look that resembled that of a pissed off jungle cat.

"No! just…never this close up and… _fresh._ "

"Really." Kakuzu said like he didn't believe she'd ever been anywhere near a dead body. The hunter was taken a back for a moment when she realized he was watching her shake and recovered by intensifying her glare.

"Shut up its just adrenaline!" she snapped. Kakuzu shrugged off the harshness and went over to Hidans crumpled form, which had was already half healed.  _At least now he'll be quiet for a while._

"I don't know what your so worked up about." He said as he knelt by his partner. "Your not the one that has to carry him."

Pein sat in his office taping his finger on his desk impatiently. Zetsu had stopped by and told him that Kakuzu and Hidan were transporting the assassin. But it was taking to long. They should have been back a half hour ago. He was just about ready to send out another member to go find them when the main entrance to the hide out was opened. He practically leapt from his seat and angrily stalked off to find out what had taken so long. The second he saw them his eyes narrowed on Hidan who was still being carried on Kakuzus back. The immortal was conscious but just barely. Then his rinnegan eyes snapped toward the 'assassin'. She wasn't what he had been expecting at all.

She was only about 5'4 give or take, and couldn't be older than 20. Even that was a stretch. Her hair was black and cut short enough to be a boy's hair style. It was really messy and uneven and the bangs only added to the overall punk look to it. Her eyes were bright golden yellow. They were pretty big to but fierce. The way she scowled without faltering told Pein that she spent more time with a frightening expression on her face than a happy one. Peins eyes narrowed further when he saw the scars she had. More on the left side than the right, he could see on the bottom half of her face she had what looked like old burn scars. Once you noticed them they stood out pretty well on her pale complexion. He could see they traveled farther down her neck, but with her clothing he couldn't see if there was more than that.

As for clothes they were just as bazaar. She wore a black zip up trench coat, which she wore open instead of closed, that reached bellow the knee and had a collar instead of a hood. Bellow that was a off black loose sweatshirt that reached about mid thigh and had a large skull that covered her torso and looked like it had been painted on. He could tell she had owned it for a long time and has worn it a lot. Her pants were dark grey and bunched up where they tucked into black combat boots. Not to mention she was covered in dirt from head to toe. Between to clothing and overall appearance he wouldn't have thought she was a girl if Zetsu hadn't of told him. Though he could see she did have some feminine features. Finally he fixed his gaze on Kakuzu.

"Put him in his room and lock  _it_ in a cell. Then meet me in my office." He barked.

The bounty hunter didn't like being called an it, but if this was the guy calling the shots, than it would be a good idea to keep her mouth shut.  _Great, what the hell did I get myself into?_  She thought as 'Kakuzu' she now knew his name, led her to a small room that had two chairs in it. She noticed one of them had arm and leg cuffs on it and shuttered as the image of the electric chair came to mind.

"Hey, wait a min-OOF!" Kakuzu had noticed a resistant look in her eyes when he opened the door and thinking quickly punched her in the stomach, pushed her into the chair and trapped her in the cuffs with his arm extended by threads. Before leaving to Report to Pein, Kakuzu took one last look at the prisoner. She had the same bewildered look of horror she had while watching Hidan heal on the way back to the base. Kakuzu never liked getting stared at like that but, that was one perk to the job he guessed. People like that aren't around for long.

The bounty hunter tapped her finger on the arm of the chair waiting for something to happen. There wasn't much else to do except wait. It had been a while since that Kakuzu guy had left. Oddly enough, in situations like these it was never the capture that got to her it was the waiting. The uncertainty of being alone and restrained was always when reality set in and everything became real. This is happening. The hunter wasn't one to accept defeat so easily. She gulped.  _this is not happening._

Suddenly the door was thrown open. The hunter flinched, but quickly regain composure and smirked as the same guy as before came in. The flinch didn't go unnoticed. Pein eyed the girl in front of him. Why she was smirking he didn't know, and he didn't like it.

"Who do you work for?" The hunter was thrown off by this.

"What?"

"Who sent you…" he asked in a low serious tone.

"Nobody-." This answer earned a sudden punch to her right cheek.

"Ahh! What the fuck!" she yelped. Pein was now very close in her face.

"Now, I'll ask again. Who do you work for?" the hunter spat out some blood from her mouth.

"I don't work for anybody." She growled. "I'm just a bounty hunter."

For an hour and a half Pein drilled her with questions, and torture when he didn't like the answers. The bounty hunter soon stopped with giving attitude and would give short simply answers. As far as she was concerned there wasn't anything they could use against her in some way. And she sure as hell wasn't involved in anything. After a while pein realized whenever he would ask a question that was to personal she would simply remain silent.

"Where are you from?" he asked. She winced as he pressed his thumb into a new cut on her cheek. It wasn't deep, but it stung.

"The village hidden in the islands!" she seethed. Pein was getting close to the answer he desired.

"Where is it!" she glared at him.

"In the triangle!" she let out. Pein released his thumb from her wound, which she started to rub against her shoulder.  _So the rumors were true…_

"Why would you go after a bounty so far from your home?" He asked her. She glared up at him and smirked.

"With a price like that over his head, who wouldn't…" was her answer.

"Surely you realized how many shinobi die trying to take down just one from our organization. What made you think you could do this?"

The bounty hunter looked away. Though her capture hadn't been very violent she still didn't have a clue how she would get out of here. Truthfully, she didn't understand shinobi. Any of that chakra stuff she had heard about. Seeing it in person had not only been terrifying, but disturbing. It almost seemed unnatural for anyone to have these abilities. And she could tell now with how easy she had been captured, that she's seen nothing compared to a full on battle ready ninja.

"You want to know why  _I_ think you did it?" Pein asked in a condescending manner. He had been interrogating her long enough to have a good guess of what kind of person she was.

"I think its because, you're a head strong idiot who doesn't think things through and always bites off more than you can chew and thinks a mission went well even though you got beaten to s pulp just because despite that things somehow went your way in the end." The girls face twisted into a scowl, and she still refused to meet his eye. He got that spot on.

"What is it you have no fears?" most under interrogation would either be a wreck or putting on a false façade of toughness. She just showed indifference. To this comment she smirked once again.

"My biggest fear died off when I was nine." Pein stared at her eerily.

"How old are you?" he was genuinely curious.

"Eighteen." Well…in like five months. She didn't like where Pein was going now. He had stopped with the torture, but now he was going into personal questions again.

"Aren't you a little young to be a bounty hunter?" silence.

"Shouldn't you at least be in school? Or with your family?" Silence. Pein continued asking personal questions like this but all he got was silence.

"You know I think we've had enough of this. Itachi is going to come in and make sure you haven't lied." Pein said as he got up to leave the now bloodied prisoner.

"…I've got a question for you." Pein stopped at the door.

"Why didn't that Hidan guy die when I shot him?" Pein turned back to face her. "Why didn't he die when he blew his head off?" she asked.

"Its no secret Hidan is Immortal." He said than opened the door.

Outside Itachi had been waiting patiently to go in and look to see her memories matched her answers with his sharingan. As Pein trudged through the halls he couldn't stop thinking. Not only were the rumors about the triangle true but the rumors about the hidden island village as well. Whats worst yet is the fact that they had information on the Akatsuki. Maybe not a lot from what the prisoner had said, she knew nothing of the organization other than its existence. She didn't seem to particularly care either. But enough for bounty hunters to come after the members. They were gaining to much attention. Konan passed Pein in the hall. When he didn't even seem to notice her presence she stopped him.

"Pein? Are you all right?"

"Konan, your next assignmet is to find as much information as you can about the triangle, and the hidden Island village."

"but aren't those just myths?" she called as he headed to examine the prisoners equipment.

"No. they're not." One other thing was bothering him. The way she said her fears  _died off_  what had she meant by that?

The bounty hunter groggily opened her eyes to find Kakuzu now sitting in the seat opposite from her. The last thing she remembered was Pein leaving and some other guy with long black hair coming in. then she remembered seeing what she thought was just some odd colored contacts, and then waking up now. After just staring at each other for a few minutes in silence, she finally sniffed and said

"'sup." Kakuzu held out his hand. Inside was the small wad of metal he had recovered from Hidans wound.

"What is this?" he asked. The hunter looked at it for a moment before chuckling darkly.

"Pfft, it looks like a bullet that hit its target." She said as if it was obvious, and then went into explaining how guns work once she remembered he probably had no idea what she was talking about. Kakuzu was a little baffled and described the only guns he had ever heard about. The hunter couldn't help but laugh when she realized he was talking about an old musket.

"No-o-o! …no, that's a musket. Those haven't been used in over 200 years." She laughed. Kakuzu decided to let it go once he heard that the gun he had heard of was so outdated. It certainly did explain how much better hers was. She chuckled a little more.

"No, we've advanced a lot since that era, but if you get your hands on a real one, keep it. they'd be worth quite a bit by now." Good to know. Kakuzu got what he wanted to know, but before he had made a move to leave the girl spoke.

"Alright, I answered your question. Now I have one for you." Kakuzu narrowed his eyes.

"You realize your not in a position to bargain." He stated. She shrugged. "What is it?"

"What did that itchy guy do to me?" itchy guy? Oh Itachi.

While Kkuzu tried his best to explain just what Itachi did with his sharingan, Pein talked to Itachi himself.

"Itachi, what did you find?"

"She was truthful."

"And what about her. Is she a threat to us?" Pein aksed. Itachi paused.

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean? Is she or isn't she?"

"Well…"

"Just answer the question. If one of us got into a fight with her, would she be a threat?"

"No." Itachi said instantly. Pein furrowed his brow.

"…what else did you find Itachi?..."

"I don't believe its my place to tell sir."

"you realize how bad I can beat you correct?" Pein asked. Itachi nodded. Pein sighed. Itachi was a loyal member and he trusted his judgment. If he refused to say something he must have his reasons.

"Very well." Pein said and flicked his wrists signaling for him to leave. Itachi nodded and left.

Kakuzu had come and gone. The second she understood that Itachi had pretty much read he mind, every new cut and bruise Pein had given her burned all at once.  _WHY HADNT HE DONE THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!_ Once Kakuzu had left she was again waiting in the dark for something to happen only this time she was brooding on that fact to keep her mind off of. It worked up until the door opened and she felt a chill go up her spine. She couldn't see who it was with the light behind them, but she could see that whoever it was, was definitely a guy. He slowly walked over until lavender eyes were right in front of her own.

"Listen here you little runt. I don't know how long the leader plans on keeping you here, but I guarantee if I had it my way you would have been fucking dead when we found you. I don't like to be made a fool of, especially not from tiny little bitches that can barely defend themselves." He seethed.

The hunter stayed completely still and decided for now not to poke the bear. She tried not to look at him hoping he would jus leave but the she felt his tongue trail up a cut on her cheek. Now she had winced away form him, no doubt giving him some sort of satisfaction. Hidan leaned back just enough to look at her cringing, and spat the blood he had lick off her, back in her face.

"Jashin has a special place for sinners who mock his followers." Hidan said then walked out of the room as if nothing had just happened.

Pein passed Hidan as he made his way back to the cell they were holding the bounty hunter in.

"Hello Hidan, I see your doing better."

"yeah, yeah. Did Kazuma go shopping? Im  _STARVING_."

"I wouldn't know."

"tsk…damn."

As Pein made his way into the room he looked up and saw that the prisoner once again flinched when he opened the door. Only he wasn't aware it was because she was paranoid Hidan was going to come back. Pein sat back down across from her.

"Hello again." She said sarcastically. Pein wasted no time and got down to business.

"Here's the thing. While your answers checked out from the interrogation, we simply cant just let you leave once you've-."

"-Seen your secret base. Got it." she finished. Pein narrowed his eyes.

"You're smarter than I thought. So one the way down here I was faced with a conundrum, what do I do with you?" the bounty hunter looked down. She knew what was coming. They were gonna give her to the crazy immortal so he could redeem himself.

"Normally you would just be disposed of by one of the members, but I feel you might still have some usefulness. So again what to do?" she perked up when he said he didn't want to kill her…at least not yet. But his mind game was getting old.

"Then on the way over here I had an encounter and it came to me. Our maid could probably use some help keeping things up around here, and besides that its always nice to have help that can take care of itself…even if it is just barely."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It all seemed so easy this morning. Snipe this guy out. Go home and collect the bounty. Figure things out from there.

"Wait, so what? I'm your maid now?"

"Not exactly. Think of yourself more like an indentured servant."  _This cant be happening…_  her jaw dropped. She'd been in some tight spots, but this took the cake.

"Here's how its going to work, you obey our rules and be a good little servant, and we wont kill you. Who knows, I might even give back your gadgets one day. Got it?" her lip curled, but she forced it into a thin lipped smile and nodded.

"Good. Oh and one more thing. Since you are going to be here for a while, what is your name?" Pein asked. The girl looked up at him, this was the first some one had asked her that, they probably didn't think she was going to be alive much longer but still.

"It's Enik."

**A brief history of the hidden island village.**

**The village hidden in the islands is located in the (Bermuda) triangle. The triangle has strange affects on chakra. Those who are from outside the triangle, find that once the enter they can not long access their chakra and are as weak as normal people. For this reason, ninjas do not go to the triangle. Its also very hard to find unless you know how to get there. People who live in the village, do not have the ability to use their chakra, even if they leave the triangle, because of this they sought out different ways to better their military without shinobi. Once the invention of guns was invented, the ninjas disregarded it and continued to better their ninjutsu, however the islanders jumped on the machinery and have been advancing ever since.**

**Ninja folk do not go to the island for obvious reasons along with the fact that the technology and lifestyle of the islanders is very hard on the environment and very polluting. The ninjas prefer to keep this lifestyle contained to where it already is.**

**The islanders don't leave often because they are accustomed to their life style (the village is very modern.) aside from that they just like to keep to themselves. Ninjas who share ports with the islander know very well that the triangle and the village hidden in the islands does on fact exist, however it seems the farther away from the islands you go the more fact turns into urban legend.**

**Few! That was a lot of writing! Lol if I continue this story probably not every chapter will be this long, but yeah. Let me know what you guys think! I'm still not totally sure which direction I'm going with this story but if you hit me back and get me to finish this bitch then perhaps I will figure it out.**

**I own nothing!**

 


	2. Introductions Part One

 

 

 

Pein led Enik down the numerous hallways of the base while explaining the rules she MUST abide by. She must always call the members by formal names unless told differently. Help whenever Kazuma needs it. Never enter a room without orders. Etc. Etc. and of course; do whatever you're told. Enik stared at the floor in spite as she was led to an unknown destination. The hall ways were cold and weren't lighted very well. Enik assumed it was because she had yet to see a window in the joint, but that was the least of her worries. She hadn't seen an exit either… As they walked on and Pein pointed out what rooms were what and what was off limits, they passed a door that was cracked open. The darkness inside the room drew her attention. Within a second she recognized what looked like reddish brown hair and the reflection of an eye peaking out the door right before it slammed shut. Enik had a questioning look on her face.  _The hell…?_ She thought. Pein noticed this but decided he didn't have to explain. She'd know what she needed to soon enough. It was almost seven in the morning, by the time they had reached their destination.  _Surely Kazuma was awake by now._  Pein thought.

At the end of the hall, was what Enik figured was the most out of the way room in the whole base. Pein opened the door and revealed an ash blonde full bodied curvy girl who was about six foot seven, in a full maids outfit, next to a boy about five inches shorter than her wearing an orange swirley mask with only one eye hole. At first sight, Enik was sure they had just walked in on some weird fetish thing. But as it turned out she was the only one that felt remotely uncomfortable. The spiky haired boy instantly shot his arm in the air and waved like an idiot.

"Hi Leader!" he called. The girl simply obtained a composed posture and smiled.

"Hello Pein, what brings you by so early?" she asked. Enik couldn't believe what she was witnessing. It was like nothing had happened. Then it dawned on her and she was struck dumbfounded.  _Oh…those are just their clothes…_ Pein glanced at Enik then proceeded to explain the situation.

"Good morning Kazuma, Tobi, this is Enik, she's-"

"I'm the new slave." Enik interrupted.

All three heads turned to Enik, two of which stunned she would speak out in her predicament, let alone interrupt the leader of the akatsuki. Pein was merely annoyed he had been interrupted, though he can't say he was particularly surprised with how she had handled her interrogation. Under his harsh gaze she looked away again and refused to meet any ones eyes.

"She's a spiteful one…" he grumbled. "In any case, Kazuma, she's your new underling, spend today showing her the ropes alright?" Kazuma nodded.

"Good, as you were. I'm going to go inform the others of our new  _slave._ " Pein emphasized to make sure Enik had heard. If she was going to be of any use she needs to learn her place.  _And most likely_ I _won't end up being the one to put her in it._  Pein thought as he exited the room.

"Will do Pein, and please try to get some sleep!" Kazuma called. Pein didn't give any response, but they both knew he had heard her. The poor leader looked as though he hadn't gotten any sleep all night.

"Yay! Now Zumi is a senpai!" Tobi squealed and gave her a hug, which brought their attention to her new underling. Enik hadn't moved an inch since she came in. She just stood there in the same spot arms crossed glaring at the floor. Luckily for Kazuma, Tobi broke the silence. He bound up right in front of the girl.

"Hi! My name is Tobi!" He beamed. Enik took an unsure step back from the shouting lollipop invading her personal space. Her stoic glaring had turned to that of a surprised wide eyed snarl in a few short seconds.

"Uh…Hi." She said.

_Well that threw me off._  Enik thought. She took a few short seconds to really look at the two in front of her. Tobi was about a foot taller than she was, not to mention he was wearing one of those cloud suits like everyone else. Kazuma however was almost a foot and a half taller than her, she couldn't believe it. Never had she met any girl that tall before…well…at least not one this pretty. Kazumas skin had some light coloring to it and naturally pink cheeks that made her emerald green eyes pop. Her ash blonde hair was kept in a bun on top of her head by one of those maid hair things.  _What were they called? Ah, well its not important._ Kazuma just had one of those overall naturally perfect and beautiful face and body's you don't see often. Honestly, Enik had to admit, if she was interested in her own love life she would be a little jealous. Ah hell she was still a little jealous.

"Hello, my name is Kazuma, its nice to meet you." Kazuma said as she held her hand out to shake Eniks. Upon shaking hands, Kazuma realized just how dirty Enik was.

"…uh, how 'bout we start you out with a shower? Then we can get started?" Kazuma suggested. Enik gave a thankful grimace and followed Tobi's directions to the nearest bathroom with a shower.

"So, what are you going to do with her today Zumi?" Tobi asked once Enik had left. Kazuma chuckled.

"Uh, clean her clothes while she's in the shower, maybe see if I can convince Kakuzu to stitch up the tears in her shirt. Then I guess just business as usual. I'll go clean and do maid stuff while I try to teach her how to do things." She shrugged.

"Pfffft! That sounds boring!" Tobi whined. Kazuma rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Okay, then what do you have in mind?" she could feel a devilish smirk forming under that mask. He clapped his hands a few times as if he had been waiting for her to ask.

" Tobi thinks you should clean all the Akatsukis rooms and introduce her to everyone!" He beamed. Kazuma didn't know if it was such a great idea, but it would make things easier when she needed her to clean one of the rooms. She might as well show her where they are and get it out of the way. Kazuma shrugged.

"that's not so bad I guess…" Tobi. Was. Ecstatic. He knew the second she asked him what he thought, he would have his way. The girl could never say no to him. Of course she was oblivious to this though. Tobi jumped up and down.

"Can Tobi come to? Tobi is a good boy!" Kazuma chuckled.

"Sure I guess-."

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!" the two suddenly heard, followed by other profanities coming from somewhere in the base. The two looked at each other.

"I guess Pein broke the news to Hidan." Kazuma said as Tobi giggled like a child.

Konan grumbled in annoyance as she packed what she would need into a satchel she would take with her under her Akatsuki uniform. She'd been caught off guard with the sudden assignment, not to mention how pointless it sounded, but it wasn't her place to question an order. If he was in boy friend mode she could yell and bitch all she wanted, but in boss mode she had to follow orders. Still…it had been a long night for everyone. The only ones at the base that hadn't returned from a mission that day was Itachi, Kisame, and Tobi. Itachi and Kisame had been recovering from a previous mission, while Tobi simply didn't have one at the moment, though knowing him he was probably bored out of his mind the whole day. At least she got some sleep. Pein was up late doing paperwork, and then had to stay up the rest of the night waiting on Kakuzu and Hidan.

She did feel sympathetic that he was up all night, but that didn't change the fact that she had such a silly mission. Honestly, getting information on a place that's been reduced to an urban legend, who knows what information will be true and what will be false. He usually only sends her out on vital missions, how important could this be? Konan stopped when she realized she had at some point stopped packing, and had been angrily shoving things into her satchel. She sucked in a breath and released the tension in her shoulders…Perhaps she'll have a word with their leader.

Enik had been more than a little disturbed to find her clothes were clean when she got out of the shower. Sure she had taken a long shower, in favor of trying to escape. She figured that even if she did find a way out, she didn't have any way of getting a good shower out in the wilderness. Besides that she shuttered at the thought of being caught and thrown back in that cell for who knows how long and  _still_  be covered in dirt. That was just way to long to be dirty. Still, taking a shower in a strange place was bad enough without finding out someone had gone into the bathroom unnoticed, handled your clothing, and put it back  _still_ unnoticed. She just prayed to every possible being out there that it was the maid and not some one else. That scenario is bad enough as is. Now she was following Kazuma around with the masked man child tagging along. Kazuma kept trying to be welcoming, by assuring her that once you get to know everyone there not that bad. To which Enik would reply, if she had to tell her 'there not that bad' really means that they are that bad. Which would spark a fit of giggles from Tobi. Tobi would notice that every time he would start giggling at a comment, her mouth threatened to smile, smirk, giggle he didn't know! But he could tell she was holding back something. He smirked under his mask.  _There's hope for her yet._  Kazuma stopped the trio in front of a closed door.

"Okay, this is Kisames room-." Kazuma stopped mid sentence when Tobi raised his hand. "Yes Tobi?"

"Was Tobi supposed to be listening to what Zumi was saying on the way here?... 'Cuz he wasn't." he looked at the floor when he said this like he was going to be in trouble. Eniks eyebrow twitched.  _This guys a member?_  She was even more surprised with the fact that Kazuma didn't look annoyed in the slightest.

"No Tobi. You live here. Moving on. This is Kisames room, eventually once you know where every ones rooms are we will figure out a schedule for who cleans what room and when, got it?" Enik gave a nod. Kazuma nodded and softly knocked on the door. From inside she could hear Kisame call out "Gimme a minute!"

Kazuma retracted her arm from the door and waited. She thought with a sad grimace of the injuries he had suffered on his last mission. A fractured wrist and the cartilage on his still-recovering broken ribs had separated from the bone. All week he's been cooped up in his room because moving his torso to get up or move at all for that matter, was a bit to painful and we ran out of morphine the last time Deidara and Sasori got into a fight. Kazuma had tried taking care of him; helping him around, opening doors, bringing him things, but she could tell it was hurting his ego and remained patient with him while he did things himself instead. Kisame eventually did make it to the door. He turned the knob, eased it open with his good arm, and was surprised to see three faces outside his room.

"Good morning Kisame, are you doing any better?" Kazuma asked. Kisame grinned.

"Morning, and you know what, yeah I think I am. Thanks for asking." Kisame said as he thought about it. Tobi giggled. Kisame says that everyday, even though no one buys it.

"Is there anything you need me to clean?" Kisame rolled his eyes.

"No. same as yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that…" Kazuma raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, should I stop coming by?" Kisames face dropped.

"No no no! You can't just leave me all alone!"

"Aw! It's okay Kisame! Tobi, will keep you company!" Kisame paled. Tobi had been coming in everyday now; the thought of him coming in anymore was nerve wracking. Kisame clutched Kazumas shoulder with his good arm and brought his face down to her level, and through his teeth whispered,

"You can't leave me alone with him…" Kazuma chuckled, shook off his hand and proceeded into the room to inspect.

"I'm serious Kazuma!"

"I am too! I thought you said there was nothing for me to clean?" She said as she picked up his clothes from the night before off the floor. Kisame noticed her looking over the room, obviously finding things out of order.

"Well… nothing  _big_  per say-"

"But Kisames room is always so messy he's not used to it being this clean!" Tobi chimed in with a laugh. Kisame rolled his eyes.

"Since your probably gonna finish pretty soon, how's about you stick around for a bit?" Kisame proposed. Kazuma shook her head.

"Sorry, I cant. I still have to clean everyone else's rooms."

"Aw! Kazuma, why couldn't you have saved my room for last?" he whined. " I get so bored in here doing nothing!" Kazuma held up her arms in defense.

"I'm sorry! But I'm showing the new girl around and your room was the first one we came to. Showing her all the rooms out of order would just be confusing." Kisame shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah I get that I guess." He said than directed his attention to the third person that had entered his room. Once Kisame had opened the door Enik had been a little surprised by his appearance, but with everything else she had witnessed in these few short hours she had quickly gotten over it and entered the room with Tobi, and Kazuma. So there she stood. In the front of the room leaning against the wall, trying not to be noticed, and silently watching Kazuma clean up the slightly cluttered room. Kisame smirked and approached the small figure.

"So your the one who decapitated Hidan!" He laughed. "To bad you didn't do him in for good." Kisame awkwardly stopped laughing when he realized Enik hadn't given him any sort of response that told him she was even listening.

"You should've at least blown his head off closer to the base so we wouldn't have to listen to him for a while." that got a reaction out of her. Enik scoffed.

"Yeah right! The last forty five minutes until we got here was full of his moaning! And not enough of his brain was reformed, however the hell that works, enough for him to shut up!" she ended up snapping the last part. Kisame laughed.

He noticed the fact that her facial expression was somewhere between indifferent and annoyed, and she wasn't making any eye contact, even though she was clearly vexed by everything. Kisames eyes narrowed with curiosity. She didn't seem to bothered by his appearance despite not looking toward him. In fact, she seemed to be under reacting to what was going on. Kisame decided to be friendly, if she was really going to be one of the Akatsukis 'servants' he might as well try to get along with her. He had a policy. Whoever does his laundry, cleaned his room or made his food, he would NOT get on their bad side. This policy never steered him wrong before.

"Whats wrong small fry? You seem to be in a rut."

"This wasn't exactly how I expected my day to go." she said without looking at him.

"How so? getting to live? or becoming a servant?" Kisame asked jokingly. Enik pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Both I guess. I take it you know I'm not from around here?" Kisame nodded.

"I got the quick painless version."

"Well, when I left the islands I didn't know what to expect from ninjas, but I definitely wasnt expecting immortals, mind rape, string men and-"

"Monsters?" Kisame suggested with a raised eyebrow. Eniks eyes went wide and she quickly snapped head head towards him and, Kisame noted, looked him dead in the eyes.

"Wha- No! No-no! That's not what I-" Kisame chuckled and held up a hand to get her to stop rambling.

"It's fine! I was just messing with you! Chill! Ha-ha! But-" Kisame was cut off when over his shoulder he heard Kazuma mutter something about not cleaning under Kisames bed in a while. Kisame momentarily forgot he was injured and whipped around to stop Kazuma from going near 'the stuff'.

"Wait! Wait! don't- OOH!" Except he turned to fast and doubled over a sudden wave of pain in his torso.

"Umm..." he recovered just in time to see...Kazuma looking at him with a confused and disturbed look on her face. A moment of awkward silence fell between the two as they both just stared down at the crumpled magazine in Kazumas hand.

"Um..." Kisame never felt so caught in all his life. "...It's exactly what it looks like."

Tobi felt the tension and turned around from playing with Samehada to the two in the middle of the room. Even Enik took a few steps from the wall to see what such levels of awkwardness was about. Both of their eyes widened. Eniks with entertainment. With the picture on the front of said magazine it was unmistakable... A tentacle porn magazine.

"Ew Kisame! That's icky!" Tobi gaped. Enik had turned toward the corner so no one would see her miserably trying to hold back a laugh, and Kisame was starting to get flustered. Now he was on the defense.

"Okay! Alright!... We all see the octopus on the cover, there's nothing wrong with it."

"Speak for yourself!" Tobi voiced. Kisame snapped his gaze onto the orange mask.

"Okay, hows about we try to be adults now guys?" Kisame scowled.

"Wow. not even going to try and cover this up?" Kazuma asked as she handed Kisame the magazine.

"Nope. You cant really cover something up when your  _this_ caught. Besides what kind of lame excuse is there to use for this?" Kisame asked.

"Tobi would have said he thought it was a fancy take-out menu!" Tobi supplied, which made Kisame frown.

"Okay, get out." He stated. And a second later they were shooed from his room. Tobi was in the middle of suggesting Kazuma wash her hands after touching that magazine as they walked down the halls, when they heard Kisame call down the hall to them.

"Hey! If you see Itachi send him my way!" he said then ducked back into his room.

Konan knocked on the door in front of her. She was packed but still skeptical about her new mission.

"Come in." Pein barely looked up to see who was at the door as it pushed open.

"Hello Pein. Just checking in before I head out." Again Pein didn't even look up. He was buried in some book about the triangle he dug up from the library room. He did a double take when he realized Konan was still in the doorway.

"Is there a problem?" He asked. Konan could tell by his tone something was already under his skin. She had to be careful with her next few words.

"Y-yes... its about the mission-." Pein put his hand over his eyes irritably and gestured with his other hand for her to continue.

"Uh- Its just that, -I dont really see why this is a big deal. Surly someone of a lower standing could gather the information-"

"Konan, this is an important Intel gathering mission and I need some who's judgment I can trust to-."

"You trust Itachi's judgment dont you?" She interrupted. "I talked to him Pein. He said that Neither the girl or her village are threats, so why is this so important?"

"Konan just because he got a look at their society from the point of view of some bounty hunter doesn't mean they aren't a threat." Pein said with a dangerous tone. If Konan wasnt so agitated at the moment she would have noticed that and thought out her next words carefully, but instead she went in an entirely different direction.

"Really? Because from what he described the government and the  _people_ aren't in the least bit interested in what goes on outside their islands if it doesn't have to do with them. Not only that, but they don't get _involved_ with anything that doesn't have to do with them. Don't you think if they didn't keep to themselves, and seclude themselves everyone would have known they were real to begin with? But no. They have been reduced to urban legend. I. Do.  _Not_. Think. They. Are. A. Threat."

Konan seethed out the last bit of her rant as Pein stared with an unreadable expression, before he stood and walked out of the room. Konan stood there in shock that he would just up and leave, but it was short lived as he came back with a dufel bag in his hands and without a word walked passed her and lied it on his desk. Pein was eerily silent. Konan silently cursed herself for snapping moments ago. Now it was apparent he was livid. Konan tensed up expecting a storm when he reached over and unzipped the bag. Her eyes widened in confusion at the strange objects inside. So many things that fit into a bag, that came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. When Pein finally spoke his voice was calm.

"I need to know about them because they have more advanced weaponry then us. Because I don't buy that people cant use chakra in the triangle and no one knows why. Because if they ever figured out how to get rid of chakra outside of the triangle, we would be at their mercy. Because I find it suspicious that they could stay hidden long enough to 'not exist'. Because  _interested_ or not, at least one of our members is public enough there to have one of  _their_  bounty hunters come after us!" Pein shouted.

Konan was frozen. Honestly she hadn't expected Pein to dwell on it this much and it worried her that it bugged him this much. What worried her even more was the fact that she hadn't thought of it like that. Was Pein being a little paranoid about this? maybe. but he had several valid points. He wasn't the leader of this organization for nothing. Pein was rubbing his temples, when his eyes fell upon the book he had been reading. He growled, picked it up, threw it in the trash and slumped back in his chair.

"What was that book?" Konan asked carefully. She didnt want to upset him further.

"Ugh...A book on the triangle. I was hoping it would give me some information on why it acts how it does with chakra, but it was just full of stories, and peoples 'theories' and 'speculations' about why." Konan smiled a little, feelingt sympathy for her lovers stress. she walked over and gave Pein an affectionate peck on the cheek. The brooding leader loosened his tense muscles a little.

"I'll go find out what I can." Konan promised. "Now please get some sleep okay?"

Pein looked up at her with unbelievably purple bags under his eyes which made his usually flawless skin look anemic. He gave a nod, looking more tired than ever. Konan smiled.

"Good boy." As Konan exited the room Pein hesitated, then called out for her to send Kazuma in to speak with him before she left.

"Just knock on the door." Enik stood in front of a door and looked over at Kazuma as if to say 'really?' to which she replied by signaling with his hands 'go ahead'.

"You can do it!" Tobi beamed encouraging. Enik rolled her eyes and face the door. This cant be happening. She exhaled sharply and knocked on the door. Kazuma flinched with each loud obnoxious bang on the door, and snatched her wrist before she could hit Sasoris door again.  _I thought she noticed how softly I had done it...Should have told her how first._ Enik quickly jerked her arm away from Kazuma.

"What?!" She snapped. Tobi put a protective hand on Kazumas shoulder. He didn't like the wild look in her eyes when Kazuma grabbed her. Kazuma soon realized she shouldnt have done that.

"Sorry, but you cant knock like that." Kazuma tried to explain.

"Why not?! whats wrong with my knocking?" Enik asked, completely oblivious to how loud of a knocker she was. Kazuma opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off when the door opened abruptly with an icy glare from Sasori.

"That's why." Sasori fixed his glare on Enik for a few moments, then turned it on Kazuma.

"Care to explain?" he commanded. Kazuma nodded nervously.

"Sorry Sasori, I was showing Enik here the ropes." Enik raised her hand as if it wasnt obvious Kazuma meant her. Sasoris expression softened, but he still looked pretty annoyed.

"Fine." He said. With Sasori, saying 'fine.' could mean a lot of things. In this case it was safe to assume it meant he accepted the apology.

"Is there anything you need done?" She asked. Sasori thought for a moment before answering.

"Yeah. I'm starting to run low on wood polish."

"Done." Sasori noticed she didnt look as though she was going to leave yet.

"Is there something else you need?" he said getting impatient. Kazuma decided to cut to the chase.

"Yeah, I was thinking maybe you would want to go over the ground rules for your room maybe? I feel like you'll get the point across better than I can."

Sasori didn't really feel like it, but he was grateful none the less that she had thought of his rules. They've had servants before that didn't work out, which had to learn most of the rules the hard way. Sasori snapped his gaze to Enik, who might have been day dreaming, judging by the spacey look on her face.

"Alright listen up, I'm going to make this quick and simple. You do not step foot in my room. Not now, not ever. This door stays shut 24/7 unless I'm the one opening it. If you need something you knock, and don't bang on the door, just knock. If I do not come to the door, or give a response, I am not in my room. Do not go in to check, or even open the door to look. Got it?" Enik nodded rapidly. Something told her by the tone of his voice, she wouldn't enjoy what happens to those who dont follow his rules.

"Good, now You do not clean my room. I clean my room. every couple of days you may stop by and check if I need something, or something cleaned. If so either I will hand what ever it is to you, or you to me through the door. Do I make myself clear?" Enik thought it over and nodded.

"Good. Further more I am the Organizations Physician. If you don't think it is serious, don't bother wasting my time. If it is serious, just let me know and I'll look you over in the infirmary when I can. Questions?"

"Uh...Just one?" Sasori nodded for her to ask. Enik stared at the wooden joints on Sasoris hands that were obviously some type of replacement, and bluntly asked,

"What happened to your hands, those are some nice replacements." She awed. She always tended to lean towards quality over looks or, 'shiny stuff' But Sasoris hands not only looked pretty realistic and proportional, but fully functional ,judging by how Sasori moved his fingers, despite the fact that they appeared to be wooden. One of Sasoris eyebrows raised as he looked at the other two for help. Tobi face palmed, and Kazuma decided to throw him a life line.

"I'll fill her in later."

"Kazuma, Pein wants you to go talk to him in his office." Everyone turned to see Konan walking towards the group huddled around Sasoris door.

"Right now?"

"Hopefully. He might actually try to get some sleep afterwards." Kazuma glanced at Enik.

"It's okay Zuma! Tobi will show Her around til' you come back." Kazuma Smiled gratefully.

"Thanks Tobi. I'll be back as fast as I can." Kazuma said then scuttled off. Tobi said goodbye to Konan and Sasori, then practically drug the poor former bounty hunter off down the hall. Konan almost pitied her. With that, Konan turned and bid Sasori a farewell, before she went on her mission.

"Actually, Konan could I speak with you for one minute?" Konan paled. She had a feeling she knew what it was he wanted to speak to her about...

**Oh! Cliff hanger! Woo! haha sorry but, I think I'll stop this chapter right here. Seriously though, leave comments! I want to know how this is going so far. uhh...lets see... sorry about taking so long to type this, but that wont be a problem anymore because I got a laptop for christmas, so now can actaully comfortably type and not get distracted! (the other one was a desk top, and was pretty uncomfortable to work with...so yeah I would sometimes go daaaaaaayys without working because I never felt like dealing with it. lol, bottom line, I am sorry. And I will undate more often. So uh, yeah. I dont own anythings, R &R and all that stuff**

**Let the mayhem begin!**


	3. Introductions Part Two

So far Enik had been dragged through two first was Itachi, the guy who had read her mind or something earlier *coughcough* Mind rape *cough* But his room was completely clean. The other room Belonged to Zetsu, the venus flytrap that drug her under the earth...and his was horrific. But Tobi didn't want to be in their anymore than Enik did so they just walked away. Luckily Neither were in their rooms at the time, but Tobi had described them to Enik despite her withdrawn look of not giving a damn. She had hoped he would've stayed quiet like he was when Kazuma was explaining things to her so she could hopefully sneak off when he wasn't looking, but that freaking ship had sailed. For the last Who-knows-how-long Tobi had been pestering her about her name and her clothes.

"But don't you think it would be nice? The others don't know your name well, if you wanted, I could come up with something. Like…" Tobi trailed off trying to think up something that would go well with what he knew about Enik. "...Kurono, or Hotaru... or Kimura, or Rekka sounds good or Ooh! How about Ishi!" Enik stopped.

"Doesn't that last one mean rock?" She asked sharply. Tobi shrank.

"...or maybe Akumu…" He muttered. He thought those names suited her pretty well considering her personality so far and general appearance. Not that much time passed before Tobi started up again.

"Come on! Just think of it as part of a new start! Tobi thinks a name with a pretty meaning is nice don't you think?"

"Tobi I don't want to change my name!"

"But yours is so different! You'll get made fun of here!"

"It's unusual where I come from too! And not having a pretty meaning is the point! I ain't changing it!" Enik spat.

"What about your clothes! They're scary looking and make you stick out!" Tobi tried. Finding clothing that looked like that was rare around here...and seeing it all together  _screamed_  pick on me. If anything, he thought he had her by pointing out the fact that they drew attention. So far she seemed like the type that generally didn't like too much attention. Enik face palmed, and looked at the skull on her shirt.

"Tobi it supposed to be scary, to ward off evil spirits. I ain't takin' off this shirt for a million dollars."

"What are dollars?" Ignoring that Enik continued.

"Besides that, I  _like_  these clothes, and their the only possessions I'm actually allowed to keep in this hell hole!" She snarled.

"But if Tobi buys you nice kimonos, you'll have even more possessions!" He beamed. Enik rolled her eyes.

"The answer is no." She said coldly. Just when Enik was starting to enjoy the silence, Tobi opened his mouth again.

"What does your name mean?" He asked thinking of how Enik said it didn't have a pretty meaning.

"You know what Tobi I have a question for you, What are you hiding under that mask?" She asked very irritated. Tobi was silent for a moment.

"...What are you hiding under those heavy clothes?" He responded in a serious tone. That shut her up. Enik was surprised by his counter. Instinctively she curled her hands into fists and hid them from sight in her jacket sleeves. Tobi noticed and decided the next chance he got he'd take a good look at her hands. He wondered if it had anything to do with the burn scars that trailed down her neck. Surrounded by awkward silence the two continued down the halls without speaking to each other.

* * *

"You wanted to see me sir?" Kazuma generally didn't call Pein sir, but on occasions, like these, it seemed appropriate.

" Yes, have a seat Kazuma." Kazuma couldn't tell if Pein was having her sit down because she would be here for a while, or if he was just too exhausted to actually look up at her for too long. Even so Kazuma obliged and sat in the extra seat near Peins desk.

"How is Enik adjusting?" Pein asked. She had a feeling thats what this was about.

"Um...Fine I guess." she shrugged.

"She isn't causing any problems? Or acting as though she might lash out? Emotionally upset at all? Nothing?" Kazuma thought for a moment.

"Well…" Pein perked up. He couldn't shake the feeling there was something off about the bases new edition.

"Yes?"

"It kinda seems like she might be taking all of this a little  _too_  well."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, generally you'd think someone in this situation would be overcome with grief, or anger, or fear before they really deal with what's going on… She just seems a little too calm about it like…"

"She's already submitted?" Pein suggested. Kazuma shook her head.

"No...more like she's come to terms with everything. I mean even if she has, its a little unsettling that she just skipped past all the emotions most people go through. Like shes not even scared at all." Pein rested his head in his right hand. If she's repressing it, that isn't healthy…

"Maybe she isn't." He stated.

"Do...do you think she's planning something? Like an escape plan?" Kazuma asked. She looked worried. Despite her not having any combat training, Even Kazuma was smart enough to think like a ninja. It's almost a shame she was never trained.

"Perhaps...that might explain why she isn't showing any signs of panicking... She might have herself convinced she'll escape soon. Though, even if that is the case she can't leave the base. We have that advantage over someone from the triangle, but I fear if she ever did escape, it could be bad for the rest of us."

"Could be?" Kazuma prompted. She didn't like the sound of all of this. Pein nodded, but didn't give any details of what was floating around his mind. After a long silence Pein stood, and decided he had what he needed to know about Enik for the moment.

"Keep an eye on her." he said. "You're dismissed."

* * *

"DEIDARA SENPAI!" Deidara flinched when he heard the squeaky voice on the other side of his door.  _Okay, if I just act like im not here, maybe he'll just go away, un._

"Deidara senpai open the door, I have to clean!" Tobi called.  _Good thing that door is locked, un._ Deidara thought thankfully, knowing that if it wasn't, Tobi would just barge through the door.

"Deidara senpai, Tobi knows you're in there! The door only locks from the inside!"  _Dammit un!...That backfired._  He cursed as he approached the door. In one quick move he unlocked and through open the door.

"What happened to Kazuma un?" He asked sharply. Tobi visibly flinched at Deidara's sudden agitated appearance.

"T-t-the thing is-"

"Spit it out un!"

"Kazuma, is talking with Pein right now!" He cringed.

"So?! What makes you think that means you can clean my room, un?" Deidaras eyes darted toward the stranger standing back with her arms crossed. Her eyes darted to the side every so often nervously. It was safe to say Enik was a little more than uncomfortable. She didn't really know what to make of the angry blonde in front of her so she settled for just watching how things play out.

"And who is that, un?!" He snapped at Tobi. Tobi glanced at Enik, then back at Deidara.

"...We haven't decided on a name yet." The girls eye twitched.

"My name is  _Enik_." She growled. It seemed to be more so directed towards Tobi than Deidara.

"Whatever! Why are you two here, un?!"

"Well, Kazuma was in the middle of showing Enik where everybodies rooms are when Konan came by and said Pein wanted to see her. So Tobi took over! and-" Deidara put his hand up.

"Okay, I've heard enough. Stop, un." Feeling a pair of eyes on him, Deidara found Enik staring at him. He knew that look... Enik was staring at his hair.

"What are you looking at un?" He snapped. Enik felt caught where she stood for staring, and gazed down along the floor.

"Uhh…"  _Don't go there…_

"Well, un?"

"You're hair…" Deidara's glare depend. She knew that look. Pissing off her captives so early in the game isn't a good move. Just keep it cool, and don't say the wrong thing. Enik thought. Seeing the tension Deidara senpai was radiating, Tobi took an unsure step back. In his mind the sudden image of an old man in a rocking chair on a porch somewhere saying, storms a'comin! put him on edge. He had to act fast for the sake of his new friend.

"Its…" Enik said still thinking. You know how sometimes, when you go to say a word, and for some reason you brain just hijacks your mouth and you end up saying a completely different word altogether? Sometimes they're somewhat related and sometimes you don't know where they came from? Unfortunately thats what happened here to Enik. Just as she thought she was okay with saying 'pretty', Tobi cut in and said something about wanting Deidara to let them inside his room to clean and what Enik had meant to say, magically turned into;

"Girly." Deidara stood there with his mouth open surprised by how blunt she was.  _She did, she went there!_ Tobi, flinched at the word and suddenly went into survival mode, ready to take off incase Deidara decided to get "artistic". Enik just stood there with an 'Oh shit…' face once it sunk in what she had said. After a few painfully silent moments, Deidaras lip curled into a snarl.

"You're one to talk, with that cut you look like a boy, un!" He said condescendingly, then shut the door and went back to his business. Both just stood there staring at the door. Tobi, because he couldn't believe they had been let off so easy, and Enik...who still wasn't totally sure what just happened.

"...Whoops."

* * *

Itachi walked down the halls of the base rather distracted. Despite how much looking into Eniks memory with his sharingan took out of him, he couldn't fall asleep. The thing about looking into someones memories is, you get ALL of them. Within a few hours after performing this specific jutsu, the other person's memories will fade, until Itachi won't remember any other than a hand full. But it was taking to long… Ever since he read Eniks mind all he's wanted to do is forget. Already he's began to forget bits and pieces, that would probably help him understand more about Enik...but they're long gone. The more he tries to understand her as a person, the more confused he gets, the more he wants to forget what he knows, the more he  _remembers_  what he knows, the more he wants to understand. And the vicious circle continues. As if he didn't have enough to deal with. Nothing to do but power through this headache, until he's forgotten everything...Time moves too slowly.

"Hey Itachi, have you seen Tobi, and uh… um…" Itachi turned around to face the person who stopped him. It was Kazuma, having trouble remembering the name of the very person plaguing his mind at the moment.

"Enik?" She nodded." No I haven't." Kazuma sighed.

"Well then, I guess I'm just going to have to track them down." Itachi smiled slightly at her optimism.

"Good luck." he called as she continued searching. Before going around a corner she looked back at him.

"By the way, Kisame's awake. He said he wanted you to stop by his room and save him from boredom, or something like that. I don't know, but you know, try to give him a visit when you can." She finished and went to go find the other two.

Ahhh…Kisame. One more thing he has to worry about. Itachi was already concerned about Kisame since their last mission went sour, but after a conversation with Sasori… Well, He had been avoiding confronting Kisame for the last few days...He wasn't quite sure how to go about bringing it up. Everyday, he would wake up, convince himself he would talk to him when he woke up, not wanting to disturb his partners sleep in his condition, and never even go to see him through the day. Then every night he would tell himself he would confront him the next morning. And yet another vicious circle continues… Perhaps now is as good a time as any… after all… He did ask for him personally. Not much time passed before he found himself standing in front of the door to Kisame's room. He hesitated, then finally opened the door to see Kisame lounging on his bed reading something.

"Finally! Where've you been the last couple of days?" He said tossing the reading material aside. Though Itachi noted he didn't try to sit up.

"I've been around…" He stated vaguely. Kisame eyed him warily. Itachi was neither showing signs of a engaging in an actual conversation, or leaving from the doorway.

"Is that so… How come you haven't stopped by? Believe it or not whatever visits I get are the most interesting part of my day."

"Really…" Itachi said dryly.

"Yeah. So...what made you stop coming by? Everyday since we got back you've visited consistently. But the last four days, nothing...What's up with that?"

"..." Kisame sighed.

"Come on Itachi, I'm bored outta my mind over here, and you're not giving me anything to work with."

"I talked to Sasori." Kisame froze.

"Did you now?" Itachis vacant expression burned holes into him.

"He told me everything…" Kisame's face became unreadable. It was just as he feared. "Why didn't you?"

"Don't take it personally I haven't told anyone yet. I even asked Sasori not to say anything...apparently he didn't keep that promise." Kisame grumbled the end to himself.

"Yeah, he told me you didn't want everyone to know… But why?" Kisame shrugged.

"I don't know...I guess I'm having a hard time accepting it...I'm not even sure I'd know how to break the news."

" _News?_  How can you be taking this so lightly? This is not something that will stay a secret for very long." another shrug.

"I'll be receiving treatment." Itachi frowned.

"Treatment can only go so far… Kisame its only a matter of time-"

"-I know." Kisame said firmly. "I know…"

"...Who all knows?" Itachi asked.

"That I know of? Just you me and Sasori."

"Not even Pein?" Kisame shook his head.  _This is going to get worse before it gets better._

* * *

Kazuma finally found Tobi, and Enik outside of Kakuzu's room. The second Tobi saw her, though she doesn't know how with that mask, he bound up to her and ensnared her in a bear hug. She made sure to keep an eye on Enik all the while. She looked as though she was ready to bolt any second. But she remained planted to the floor, uncomfortable, but calm.

"Tobi is a good boy! He showed Enik Zetsu's, Itachi's, Deidara senpai's, and Konan's rooms!"

"By any chance did you happen to clean any of those rooms?" Kazuma asked. Tobi suddenly lost most of his energy.

"...Konan's."

"Riiiiight…"

"Ooh! And Tobi also explained Sasori to Enik! So Zumi doesn't have to now." He exclaimed happily. Kazuma raised a brow at Enik, who was standing behind Tobi. She slowly shook her head to say she needed someone to go over it again. With a quick nod Kazuma wordlessly promised to explain it later.

"So I take it You haven't gone in Kakuzu's room yet?" Tobi shook his head.

"Well alright then. Lets go." Kazuma said as she knocked on the door. From inside Enik could hear a low grumble from Kakuzu.

"If you're here to patch up more clothes, you're out of luck."

"No, just here for cleaning."

"Nothing needs to be cleaned. Go away."

"...I guess thats that." Kazuma shrugged.

"Huh? But the last time Kakuzu said that to Zumi, She said that just because nothing is  _physically_  dirty doesn't mean it isn't in need of being cleaned, and had to force Kakuzu to let her clean his bed sheets and vacuum and stuff like that because he didn't want to waste electricity money on  _unnecessary_ cleaning? Why are you letting him off so easy."

"Well, he did just get back from a mission…and I cleaned everything while he was gone."

"So why ask Zumi?"

"Eh...you never know. Maybe he might've had some clothes from his trip he might've wanted cleaned."

"Tobi  _hopes_  that he cleans his clothes."

The whole time Kazuma and Tobi, chatted idly, Enik was busy trying to remember where she's been in the base, and what rooms she's been through. Hopefully if she got the layout of the "base" on memory good enough she could find a way out of it...So far this place was like a freaking labyrinth with all the hallways and rooms. She still hasn't even caught sight of a single window. The last few hundred yards through the forest Kakuzu had pulled her hood over her head so she couldn't see where they the base was. For all she could figure out, this whole place was underground somewhere.  _This is just fucking fantastic…_  Enik tried to think back to any situation she'd been in that might've been remotely worse than this one. So far nothing came to mind. Danger levels, at the moment this one was pretty mild, though she'd never been taken captive before. This still took the cake for sucky situations. If the metaphorical cake actually existed, it would be a fruit cake. Not too bad...but unbearable.

After a little while of following Kazuma and Tobi talk about who knows what, Kazuma stopped and pointed out a door they were passing. In a hushed voice She quickly Identified it as Peins room.

"This is Peins room. He doesn't really use it much since he also shares Konans room, So we don't really need to clean it other than dusting every week or two, unless he tells one of us he wants something cleaned. He's in there sleeping right now so remember-" She tugged a do not disturbed sign on the door knob.

"Whenever this is on the knob he's using the room. Do you understand?-"

"Yeah yea!-" Enik started to say in her normal volume of voice.

"Shhh!" Kazuma shushed.

"Sorry-...and we  _have_  do not disturb signs where I'm from!" she said in an exasperated whisper. Kazuma held up he hands in defense.

"I didn't know!"

"Tobi likes to whisper too!"

"..."

"..."

Leave it to Tobi to defuse a situation. Kazuma had to cover her face with her hands to stifle any laughter that got out. Enik's mouth even curled a little. And after that the trio continued their trek through the numerous hall walls. Tobi took the lead leaving Enik and Kazuma tailing.

"You really do care about all these guys, huh?" Enik said, starting to feel uncomfortable in the silence. Kazuma was taken aback. she hadn't anticipated he to speak at all let alone strike up such a casual conversation. Kazuma smiled.

"I really do. They're like my surrogate family. Look, I know they're a little rough around the edges, and some don't really like each other, but they do grow on you." Kazuma said warmly. Though what she said actually made Enik feel a little on edge. The subject that crash landed in her mind was whether or not Kazuma had stockholm syndrome.

"So how long have you been cooped up here, Kazuma?" Enik asked.

"I was about two when I was took in, so roughly 19 years." Enik nearly stopped in her tracks when she heard those words escape her lips. What Enik didn't know was that Kazuma is allowed to leave the base when she wants or needs to.

"What about you? Do you have any family?" Kazuma asked. Enik was too busy trying to think of if Kazuma could have stockholm syndrome or not if she was taken that young to answer. None the less Kazuma realized what a foot in mouth question that was to ask, and tried to change the topic.

"Oh! Wait sorry! I didn't mean- uh, how did you become a bounty hunter?" She asked hoping she didn't just screw up to bad. Enik however did hear her this time but chose not to answer. Poor Kazuma thought she had offended Enik in some way.

"Or we could talk about something else? Maybe?" She tried again. Enik gave a vague shrug.

"What type of stuff do you like?" Kazuma tried. "We might have something in common." When Enik again didn't answer, Kazuma finally realized what was happening. Enik had asked a few, nonspecific questions about Kazuma and got some kind of information she may or may not find useful, But for whatever reason wouldn't answer any questions about herself. Kazuma frowned.  _I thought we were having a breakthrough! Well...two can play at this game._

"What's the weather like this time of year in the islands?" Maybe if I ask some nonspecific questions about her life I can sneak a few real questions in and get some information from her, Kazuma thought.

"Humid."

"How was it traveling here?"

"Sucked."

"What are those scars from?" Enik rolled her eyes and self consciously pulled up the collar of her jacket in an attempt to hide what could be seen of her scar from sight.  _Nice try...But I ain't gonna fall for something I just did to you._ When Kazuma was once again met with only silence she sighed.  _Well that didn't work...oh well. I guess I sort of butchered that attempt. Maybe I wasn't really asking the right questions..._

"Where we going now Zumi?" Tobi asked.

"Hidan's room, and then I guess yours so she knows where it is."

Enik almost choked when she heard the name of the immortal creepass mentioned. The last she saw of him he had thoroughly creeped her out. Just thinking about their little 'encounter' made the cut on her cheek he had licked sting.  _Why did he even do that?_  She wondered with a disturbed expression. While Enik was busy reliving the events that took place a few hours ago, she failed to pay attention to her surroundings as she followed the maid and phantom of the opera on lsd. She hadn't even realized until Tobi announced they had arrived. Without even a second for Enik to fully process what he said, the masked man continued to knock on the door.

* * *

Sasori remained in silence. He knew Konan Had suspected what he was going to tell her when he called her in but… Once its all out in the open there really wasn't anything to say between each other until she says something. Konan hasn't moved or said anything, and it was starting to get unsettling. Normally, he assumed, someone would be over reacting to the news he had just delivered. But Konan did nothing but stare with a stoic expression for more that ten minutes. He couldn't tell what was going on with her. For all he could tell she could have a seizure at any moment. All he could really do is wait and watch for a reaction.

"Konan?" He asked for the fourth time. What was different this time was he finally got a response.

"...I see." He eyed her carefully. She wasn't meeting his eyes, and seemed to be distracted.

"Konan? I'm becoming worried for your mental state… are you alright? How are you taking this?"

"I'm...fine."  _Not good apparently._

"Yes I can see that by your still not making eye contact."

"..."

"Konan, if you'd like I could perform the operation. The procedure is fairly simple, and recovery is initially fast."

"...No. It's-..."

"No? Konan, you do realized how difficult living with this could be? With our job? If we don't do something soon you'll have to live with it for the rest of your life."

"...We'll wait and see how this mission goes...We'll talk when I get back." Konan said firmly, then proceeded down the hall away from Sasori. Who sighed, opened the door to his room and barricaded himself inside. _Great, yet another persons secret to keep…_  He thought irritably. He was pulled from his thoughts when he noticed something off, with the puppet he had been repairing from his most recent mission.

"...Where?...What happened to its right hand?"

* * *

Hidan was lying on his bed still getting over the splitting headache he had when there was a knock on the door. He growled in irritation and pinched the bridge of his nose.  _Great...I fucking knew I shouldn't have left my room earlier. I leave my room one time and that means ANYONE can bug the shit out of me as they damn well please._  He griped. Apparently the unspoken rule of being injured is if you can leave your room (with ease for Kisames sake) That automatically meant you were fine.

"Ugh...What?" Hidan said.

"We gotta clean your room Hidan!" Tobi's annoyingly cheery voice replied.

"What Kazuma's to busy sharing a damn brain with you to do it herself?" He snapped.

"No...I'm out here too Hidan." Kazuma said dryly.

"Don't give a fuck. Go away."

"Come on Hidan, you're fine. Just let us in so I can clean your room. Then we're out of your hair."

Under normal circumstances, Hidan would've been livid if someone told him he was fine. But between his body completely regenerating most of his head, and eating half his weight in just about all the good food in the fridge, He was exhausted. He had just spent the last hour trying to sleep, but with his headache it simply couldn't be done. This was one of the handful of times in his life when he didn't have a shred of fight in him. Besides that it wasn't very easy to stay angry with Kazuma. Even for Hidan, it wasn't worth getting pissed over if it was her. Without even knowing what he was doing he groaned and creaked the door open.  _Speak of the devil…_  Hidan's face instantly twisted into a snarl. Past Tobi and Kazuma was the single cause of his head ache. Enik looked at the man in front of her still in shock that what was only an empty shell, was now a complete flawless face and head.

"Wow Hidan. You look awful." Kazuma said. Enik just had to assume there was something different about his appearance or mannerisms.

"...Bad. Fucking. Headache." His eyes suddenly darted to Tobi, who flinched and dove behind Kazuma, the taller of the two.

"Oh...should we come back later?" Slowly a large sardonic grin spread across his face. He stepped aside and opened the door wide open.

"Come on in."

Inside his the room was dark and there was already things out of order despite the fact that he hasn't been home that long. Eniks lip curled in disgust at the numerous blood stains around the room, that someone, presumably Kazuma, had already tried to get out. Several spots she could tell had been overlapped and stained more than once. What she didn't want to think about was how many times...or whose it was. All the while Kazuma tried to clean, Tobi hid in the hallway, and Enik scanned the room in horror, Hidan was standing in the far corner of his room glaring daggers at the Akatsukis new punk.

"Hidan, what do you want me to do with this?" Kazuma asked holding up a tattered box, that could fall apart any second. Hidan thought for a moment.

"...Lets see how useful  _it_  can be. You." He ordered. "Get a new box from the closet."

Enik blinked.  _Me? is this some type of test?_  Hidan had been so vague, she actually looked to Kazuma for help. Kazuma's eyes darted back and forth from Enik to something behind her. Enik turned around and thought she saw what kazuma kept looking at. The door directly across the hall from Hidan's room. She looked back over her shoulder to Kazuma who gave an affirmative nod. Hesitantly she walked over to the hall closet, noted that The masked marauder was nowhere to be seen, and opened up the closet. Inside was a baffling amount of different high chemical cleaners and other cleaning objects. Hell there was even steel wool in there. If she didn't know any better she'd think there was a ocd neat freak that lived here. But it was probably no mistake that  _this_  is the closet by Hidan's room.  _No wonder the bounty over this guy is so huge...you can tell a lot about someone by their room...and I guess their mortality._ None the less on the floor below the bottom shelf was an empty box. Enik grabbed it and returned to the room.

"Good. Now put what's in that box in the good one." He ordered.

Enik didn't much like being ordered around, but knew very well she didn't have a choice. Though anyone could see on her face she was bottling rage. It gave Hidan satisfaction. Enik opened the tattered box and stared at the contents. Inside were various tools for, judging by what they were covered in, gruesome torture.  _Probabaly sextual._  She glanced up at Hidan as she transported each instrument to the next box. The way he watched gave her the creeps.  _Yup...definitely sexual._ Trying to ignore him, she just kept pulling out objects and couldn't help but examine each one, with a pained cringe when she could only imagine what some of the ones she couldn't identify were for.

After she finished she felt as though she needed to take another shower. She  _definitely_  needed to wash her hands. She wasn't sure if it was fortunate, or unfortunate, but Kazuma being absorbed in trying to get out a relatively new stain, hadn't see what was in the box, or the unsettling way Hidan watched. None the less Enik remained silent, and aloof as she had been throughout the day, and didn't utter a word about her findings. Kazuma mentioned Tobi had most likely gone to his room, then lead Enik out of Hidan's room. As she exited Hidan slammed the door shut before Enik was completely out of the way, sending her forward painfully. Enik slowly stood, and glared at the door for a moment before going and catching up with Kazuma.

Hidan remained in his room. He had expected more of a reaction from the slave when his 'ritual' tools were revealed. He sauntered back to his bed and flopped down on the newly made sheets. The action caused his headache to become almost unbearable for a few moments. As he brooded he imagined breaking Enik and making life with the akatsuki a living hell for the runt. As he imagined different ways to do so it brought a sadistic smile to his face.

"This is going to be fun…"

* * *

The day came and went. Pein got his rest and was awake by dinner. Kazuma had prepared a stew. Konan was on some mission or something and wouldn't be back for at least a few days. Most of the members ate their dinner in their rooms, Tobi helped inform everyone it was ready and to go dish up. Zetsu finally showed up out of nowhere and gave Enik flashbacks from being stuck underground. After being showed everyones rooms Kazuma set to work cleaning other rooms that needed it, and even made Enik help to get her started. Which was fine with her, she never did anything half-assed. But it was strange cleaning another house other than her home. Hell, she hardly even stayed in her home for that long for it to become dirty. She prefered traveling. Tracking down criminals. The hunt. It made her wonder if she was stuck here too long if it would change her in any way. Substantial, or minor.

After the dishes were collected, and everything that needed to be done was done it was getting late, so Kazuma showed her back to Kazuma's room. For the time being Enik was supposed to share Kazuma's room with her. There wasn't another bed, so Tobi brought in a cot for her to sleep on. After cleaning up in the bathroom, Enik headed into Kazuma's room and the two of them turned in for the night.

Enik listened to the steady breathing of the giant girl in the bed next to her and plotted. As much as she wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as she could, she still needed to find an exit, and her stuff. She sure as hell wasn't going to leave her brothers sawed off here. Besides that all her paperwork to get back into the islands was in her duffel. She sighed and tried to relax enough to sleep.  _I'll find a way out, and my stuff then I'll take off...after all, the longer I stay here the less they'll expect me to try to escape._

**Wow. I'd just like to say I am deeply sorry it took so freakin' long to post this. All apologies aside, Here are the definitions of the names Tobi wanted:**

**Kurono- Belonging to the dark/ Belonging to darkness**

**Hotaru-** **It means Firefly but it's been associated with Death, Darkness, and Despair apparently.**

**Kimura- Ghost flame**

**Rekka- Strong flame**

**Ishi- Stone**

**Akumu- Nightmare**

**...Tobi has some interesting names he thinks sounds nice apparently.**

**Tobi: Tobi just thought of what names she reminded him of!**

**...Not completely sure if those are complements or not...Anyways! If any of those definitions are incorrect I apologize. And I know, I know, I know, Kazuma is a boys name, but I liked the name and I didn't know that until after I posted the first chapter. So yeah… I don't own anything, Yadda yadda yadda, Read and Review, Blah Blah Blah, Let me know what you think :3**

**~Let the mayhem begin.**

 


	4. Lost and on the Run

Enik slept soundly that morning. How couldn't you when the dream you were having was about sleeping. It was a good dream too. But as with most good dreams, you have to wake up eventually...and in this case violently.  

Tobi slowly eased the old door open. It creaked terribly, but it only added to the anticipation of the hunt. Once the door was open a few inches and his prey was in clear sight a wide maniacal smile spread across his masked face as he realized she had yet to wake up. Excellent. Now commencing operation wake up call part four. With swift grace and precision Tobi soundlessly entered the room and pounced on top of Eniks sleeping body. In a sudden thrash of blankets and confusion Tobi found himself suffocating in a chokehold. Sasori happened to be walking past the room when he heard the loud blanket shuffling followed by the sounds of someone struggling to breathe. He stopped and leaned in the doorway, a hint of entertainment in his eyes as he watched the scene in front of him play out. Enik had started to sit up, but wasn't awake enough to process what had just happened or realize she had Tobi captive with her right arm. Tobi was clutching her arm trying not to flip the cot over and loosen her grip enough for him to breathe.

“Tobi this is the third day in a row you’ve divebombed her. She's not going to get used to you if you keep this up.” Sasori stated.

The first morning Kazuma went to wake Enik up, she flinched and on reflex grabbed the wrist of the arm Kazuma tried to wake her with. It took a little while for Enik to wake up and calm down enough to realize what she was doing and release her. Every morning since then Tobi has cannon balled on top of her cot. His reasoning being that if he did this every morning eventually she would get used to it, stop lashing out when someone tries to wake her, and not be such a tense sleeper. Despite the fact that Peins tried explaining that not only would that kind of “sleep training” be incredibly gradual, but if he kept it up she wouldn't warm up to him in the slightest if he kept waking her so violently, Tobi’s still convinced its the only way.

Enik blinking herself awake, and looked at the room around her. She first noticed Sasori in the doorway...which could only mean one thing. Without even looking she jerked her right arm open, which sent Tobi straight to the floor. She let out an exasperated growel, flopped back down on the cot and covered her face with her pillow, as Tobi coughed and gasped for air.

“Besides, as I’m sure someone already tried explaining.” Sasori pinched the bridge of his nose as he said this. “It would be a lot easier to just keep waking her by hand and get her used to that.” He pointed out.

“Ahh! But if Tobi, keeps doing it this way she’ll Get used to being woken up gently quicker.” He countered. Enik ignoring the fact that she was being talked about like she wasn't in the room, just went with it and continued pretending like she wasn't in the room.

“...By that logic, it could also make her even more timid of a sleeper.” Tobi fell silent from Sasori's words.

“But...Tobi is a good boy!” He whined as if that was supposed to change the outcome to be in his favor. Sasori simply rolled his eyes and exited the room. Tobi then turned to Enik with with the speed of someone on speed.

“That reminds me, Zumi made breakfast this morning. You better get yours while its hot.” The only Movement Enik made was sticking her left arm straight into the air and give him a thumbs up before letting it collapse over the top of the pillow covering her face. Tobi instantly noticed something off about the skin on her hand, but it was only in sight for a second he hadn't expected. He cursed himself for not being prepared to take a good look, as it was out of sight now. Shrugging, Tobi left the room to go get his own breakfast. He’d catch sight of them eventually.

Enik removed the pillow when she felt Tobi was a good distance down the halls, then waited a few more seconds for good measure. She threw the pillow at the door, which closed it, and threw her blankets off revealing her bare legs. Since Pein still hadn't given Enik her spare clothes, and she hadn't really asked for them Enik had been wearing the same pair since day one. So when it came time for Enik to sleep, unfortunately she was sharing a room and had no pajamas. Which was fine because she usually just slept without pants anyways, but the real issue was how to do that without being seen. Getting them off was easy, she just kicked her pants off under the covers and let ‘em fall on the floor. Putting them back on was a challenge. Kazuma usually got up earlier and left the room, but when Tobi woke her up every morning he usually stood there waiting for her to get up. Whether he knew she didn't have clothes on or not, it got difficult to shoo him away so she could cover herself. She got the feeling the he, more than anyone, wanted to know why she wore such covering clothing. The thought made her smirk as she did a final check to make sure all of her clothing was in place.

Feeling satisfied, She exited the room and started her trek to the kitchen. Okay...lets see if I still remember how to get over there… She thought as she contemplated between left’s and right’s. She tried to stick to the same route every day, but everything still wasn't concealed to memory. Enik still had to backtrack and turn around whenever she took a wrong turn from her destination. Everything in this damn place looked the same. she wondered how any of them even got used to living here to a point where they can find there way around. The more turns and door she came across the more she pondered if this place was a mansion or a maze. Back in the Island Her apartment only had two rooms. An upstairs and a downstairs...I better find a way out of here quick…

* * *

Though Konan drug herself through the mud and filth of the currently harsh environment, she hardly paid much notice to herself shivering. Considering her objective was to find information on the Village hidden in the islands, she figured her best shot was to head east towards the ocean and ask around the land of lightning, and the land of water. In the four days that had passed since she set out, two things had happened. She had made it through Kusagakure unscathed, and it had started raining. Konan was now approaching a small village somewhere between Kusagakure and Takigakure, and the rain had only gotten worse.

She’d passed through villages like this before. Small, rundown, and crawling with crooked rogue ninjas. The perfect place to find information on something less known. However it was also a dangerous place to be for a criminal of Konans rank. Someones bound to recognize her uniform. In a regular village, if anyone were to recognize the clouds, it would be a symbol of fear. In one like this finding a lone Akatsuki member would be an opportunity. If it isn't someone after a bounty, or revenge, its someone who thinks if they take down an Akatsuki member in a fight it’ll boost their reputation to a god-like level. Yup… its not easy being an S class criminal.

Konan had decided the best places to look for this particular type of info would be the library. And if she again came up with nothing she’d ask around the bars. You never know what you’ll hear in one. After about an hour of roaming the streets and passing more bars than seemed necessary, she came across a dank old building that seemed to be right in the heart of the small village. Near the door hung a rotting sign that read “library”.  Konans lip curled at the poor condition the building was in. This is a building of knowledge… she thought with distaste. The more she examined the near condemned structure the more she wondered how the innlic library, could have dropped to the same state as a innlic bathroom.

Inside the only worker she found was a frail old woman who seemed to be going senile. The old librarian didn't even look like she could see let alone read. As Konan passed her desk she gave a small nod of acknowledgment in case she was aware, and started in the geology section. Then the historic section, then the cultural section, heck, when she again came up with nothing, she even checked the mythology section.

Konan mentally groaned that she wasn't finding anything. She knew from the start finding solid facts were going to be hard, but she was more so frustrated with the fact that she felt she was wasting her time even trying. But with the way Pein and his “solid” reasoning had spelled it out, it was clear she shouldn't bother going back to the base without something. Though she was also frustrated with her selection of books. Most were in bad shape, hardly anything was where it was supposed to be and despite how little the amount of books she actually had to search through, she already felt like she had been in there far too long.

A little longer and she had, had enough, and decided to leave. One step outside, and even with how dark the clouds already made it konan could tell she had wasted about half the day just looking through that mess called a library. Heaving a sigh, she decided to look for the inn she had seen a few streets over. Might as well get a room there, and check out the bar for anything that might be useful.

* * *

**  
  
**

Pein arrived in the kitchen for the usual mid morning brunch. The deal was Everyone eats breakfast together, fend for yourself for lunch, and you can have dinner where ever you want. These were the terms for Kazuma to agree to cook. The Kitchen was open to the living room, and everyone was present. Kakuzu was sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee, next to Deidara, and Itachi, Hidan was sprawled out on the couch probably wishing he was still asleep, Sasori was sitting in one of the arm chairs looking bored and he could hear Kisame's crutches down the hall, so he’d be in shortly. Lastly Kazuma was preparing breakfast, Tobi was crowding her while trying to be helpful, and Zetsu was trying to steal some of the raw meat she was going to cook. Wait… Where was Enik? He looked the room over once more and not only was she not present, but no one seemed to have noticed.

“Where is Enik?” Pein asked.

“Who cares, un.” Kazuma looked up from her cooking and looked around the room for the short Bounty hunter herself. This gave Zetsu the opportunity to take the bacon.

“Hasn’t anyone seen her this morning?”

“Tobi strikes again!” Sasori supplied in an only slightly interested tone. Kazuma turned her attention to Tobi.

“I thought I told you to stop doing that!”

“But- but- but-!” he stuttered trying to come up with an answer.

“Well where is she?” Pein asked starting to doubt everyones competence.

“Tobi thought she was right behind him!” he said with his hands up in defense. “She’s not a very heavy walker…”

* * *

“Okay...lets see here…” Enik said.

It didn’t take long for her to get hopelessly lost, and confused. Going back the way she had come had only served to make things much worse. She stood staring at yet another left, or right dead end. Everything still looked the same, except that where ever she was it was a little unkept. There were plenty of spiderwebs and dirt, the floor didn't look like anyone had even taken a single step on it in months, and every light bulb was either out, broken, flickering, out dated, or dim enough to know it was on its last leg. Something in the corner of her eyes caught Eniks attention. Curious she walked over and picked up what appeared to be some type of old coin. She blew it off and feeling defeated by architexture, looked upwards.

“Okay! I give up! I’m leaving the rest up to fate now!” She then stood straight with a more determined air about her.

“Alright, Tails its left, Heads its right.” She flipped the coin high into the air, caught it and flipped it over.

* * *

Pein gripped the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “So none of you know where she is?” No one gave any sign that said they knew or care too much. Pein growled to himself, and fixed his gaze on Itachi.

“What are the odds?” Itachi shrank a little. He finally got the images of Eniks memories out of his mind, but he still remembered a lot about her as if he had been told everything by a her herself. In other words he probably now knew her more than she did, and he knew exactly what odds Pein was asking about.

“Theres a pretty good chance she’s trying to escape, if not, something similar.”

“...Great.”

“Wait, wait, hold on.” Kazuma cut in. “She’s still getting used to the base. And she’s been getting turned around in the halls a few times a day, maybe she’s just lost.” She defended. Pein looked to the others.

“Is this true?” There were a few nods and shrugs from the group. A snore came from Hidan, which told Pein he’s probably been asleep the whole time.

“Then why was she left alone to get lost?!” Again no one supplied an answer, but Pein could see Tobi was trying to hide himself in the kitchen. Oh right, that was his job...Whose bright idea was that? Pein let out an exasperated sigh.   
  


“Alright, A few of you start searching, the last thing we need is another infiltrator fiasco.”

“Now?” Deidara asked abruptly.

“What about breakfast?!” Tobi pitched in. I’m surrounded by idiots…

“Fine. After breakfast, I want a few of you to start searching understood?”

Kakuzu shrugged. “I can look around.”

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing better to do.” Sasori agreed.

“But, Danna, We’ve gotta prepare for the mission later today, un.”

“...Like I said, I’ve got nothing better to do. Besides, I don’t have to eat, so I can start looking right now.” He said, then exited the room before Deidara could rebuff him. Deidara rolled his eyes and took another drink of his coffee.

“Tobi, will look!” Tobi called.

“I’ll go too.” Kisame offered. Deidara suddenly loudly choked on his coffee.

“Uh, I don't wanna be a ball buster Kisame, but I don't think thats a very good idea, un.” Kisame's expression dropped.

“Why not?” Deidara looked to the side awkwardly.

“Uh…”

“Because its not a good idea for you to be isolated with Enik.” Itachi cut in for Deidara.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Well you're not exactly our strongest link right now.” Kakuzu added.

“What? You think she’ll attack me?” He was asking Itachi specifically.

“It’s hard to say, From what I know she isn't one to attack someone in a weakened state, but she also hasn’t been in this type of situation, so who knows.”

“Pfffft, but its not like she’ll be able to do anything, she’s tiny!” He said rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, but like Kakuzu pointed out-”

“-Bluntly.” Deidara interrupted.

“-You're not exactly at the peak of health.” Kisame sent Itachi a dark glare that told him to shut his trap right then and there. “...and she’s a little more resourceful in a fight than you’d think.”

“Oh whatever!”

“Breakfast is ready!” Kazuma chimed in. One look at the nervous smile on her face as she started to lay out a breakfast buffet, told everyone she wanted all of them to drop it.

Kakuzu fixed himself a plate of sausage, bacon, eggs and fried potatoes, then dished up a small saucer of just bacon. Knowing his partner would be bitching to no end if he slept through breakfast, Kakuzu approached the couch where Hidan laid in a heap and placed the saucer under his nose. Once the scent wafted its way into the Jashinists nose his eyes blinked themselves open.

“hm...wha?... What’s going on?” Hidan asked through drooping tired eyes. Then he saw the bacon and started to absentmindedly eat it.

“Breakfast is ready, and Eniks missing. Dish up.” Hidan stopped mid chew and slowly smiled to himself.

* * *

The raining finally stopped sometime later, though the overcast kept everything unbelievably dark in the small village. It was still midday and no one but a few lushes really entered the bar during the day, so she had time to kill. She decided to wait in her room until nightfall, and dry off in the meantime. After taking off her sopping wet cloak and slinging it over the chair in the corner of the room, and placing her satchel on the small moth eaten bed, she felt as though she needed to sleep. Sasori had told her one of the drawbacks of her problem was not only would she become fatigued quickly, but her chakra would be reduced to less than half.

She sighed and looked out the window. Now that the rain had stopped there were some people out in the streets, probably wanting to get their errands done before it started raining again. A few kids were out running around and playing. Konan smiled a little. They’d probably been cooped up inside all day. She sighed. Right about now with how exhausted she felt from traveling she was actually thankful that she had such an easy mission. She grimaced and decided she should probably apologize to Pein for snapping about the mission.

A while later when her clothes were dry, Konan decided to go down to the bar to get something to eat and maybe take another look around. She wasn’t sure if it was just because of her condition, but something felt off… None the less she decided against bringing her satchel down with her. What’s the worst that could happen right? She thought as she went down the stairs. She didn’t really plan on going outside so she left her still damp cloak in the room as well.

The bar like the rest of the town was run down, but not even close to the level that library was on. This inn actually seemed to be in one of the best conditions she had seen so far. Having both a bar and rooms to rent, it probably made more money than most places here. Konan went straight to the lady behind the counter to find something to eat.

“Excuse me, I’d like to order a meal please.” She asked the greasy neanderthal looking woman. The woman looked at her with the cold eyes of someone who was surrounded by sketchy characters every day and night.

“What’ll it be?” She croaked. Konan was taken aback by the rude undertone.

“Um, may I see a menu.” The woman rose an eyebrow.

“What does this look like a B and B?” The woman chuckled. “You're in a bar hun, if you want anything, you had better know what it will be before you disturb my work.” She said in a high and mighty tone. Konan couldn’t help but notice that she was the only other person in the bar, and held back a sneer.

“My apologies...what do you recommend?” Konan asked in her usual emotionless tone. The last thing she wanted was for the cook to spit in her food.

“Heh, hun, I cook the food, It’s all good.” Konan bit back a remark. The woman wasn’t helping her at all, and now Konan had a good feeling the grotesque woman would probably spit in her food anyways. Now she had to worry about getting kicked out of her room.

“Then I’ll have the you're special.” Konan said through her teeth. The woman seemed not to notice and gave a toothy smile that revealed she was missing a front tooth.

“Good choice. It’ll be right out.” She said and disappeared through a doorway behind the counter. Konan rubbed her temples and let out an exasperated sigh. Why did that have to be harder than it needed to be?

While that woman was in the back cooking, Konan went and sat at a small table far from the counter so she wouldn’t have anymore reason to release the beast on her. Plus she had no idea if that woman would attempt small talk or not. God I hope not. Out of the corner of her eye Konan saw movement. Without turning, Konan darted her eyes to the side to get a look. Three large men had come into the bar. The biggest one in the middles arms were exposed revealing thick muscular arms with several pale knife scars, a tattoo of a fist with spiked brass knuckles on his shoulder and a large heavy looking sword was slung around his back. He reeked of trouble. Konan focused on the conversation between the three.

“...-You're sure she saw her go in here.”

“What other Inn’s are there on this street?”

“I’m just saying. It’s not like it was a very credible source.”

“How can we be sure it was an Akatsuki?” Konans eyes widened. They were after her.

“Black, full body cloak, red clouds, white trim. Unmistakable.”

Just then that woman came out with whatever she had made for Konan. The three men instantly approached her and began asking questions about people she had seen, but Konan had ducked away to go back to her room. Once she was out of sight she soundlessly ran back to her room and grabbed her satchel. Leaving this upstairs was a mistake. Luckily leaving her cloak wasn’t. Thinking quickly, Konan created a paper clone. The identical clone looked at her for a moment then nodded a silent understanding passed between the two, and It walked over and put on the akatsuki cloak and left as a diversion to lead the thugs off her trail. Konan in the mean time Gathered her satchel and made an escape through the window. Her skin shivered as her body basted itself with goose bumps. It had started raining again. Konan grit her teeth through the cold and sucked it up. Just the one clone took more of a toll than she had anticipated. If she gets caught in a fight she’s as good as dead out here.

She waited on the roof until she Heard a clamour coming from ground level followed by the clone dashing off through the streets closely followed by the three thugs. She waited until they were far from sight before dashing off through the street in the opposite direction. but there was one thing she couldn’t put her finger on. Who had tipped them off? The streets were empty from the rain when she had gone to the inn. Konans thoughts were cut short when she felt that familiar pull of release in her stomach that indicated a chakra link had ended. The clone had been defeated. Just as she felt the clone link destroyed she sped past a familiar building and an familiar face looking out a boarded up broken window. It was the librarian. She had been ratted out by that frail old woman.

* * *

Enik found herself further and further into unknown territory with every turn she took. What gave it away? The fact that every so often she had to turn on a set of hallway lights. Between the lights and the increasing number of cobwebs that may or may not have nothing left but skeletons of animals that possibly had gotten stuck in them, Enik felt the chances of finding her way back to familiar territory dwindling with every step. Well… somewhat familiar territory.

“Ugh…” Enik groaned. “How is this place even this huge...It’s not like they're using all of this…” She grumbled to herself. It was obvious no one used of went to this part of the base, though the halls went on and on to no end.

“If I don’t find my way outta here soon I’m gonna lose it…”

While in the abandoned maze Enik had found many rooms. Some contained nothing but bunk beds, some had been cleaned out and had nothing in them, a few had some fireplaces and remnants of rotted wood, some had old furniture, and some were stacked to the ceiling with boxed up storaged. Though, most of the doors were locked, the remaining 76% of the doors Enik found she didn’t bother to open. Enik stopped. Her eyebrows furrowed. The doors were inconsistent. Through the halls the doors were spaced out, all over or most often, nowhere in sight. It was a little strange. Not impossible she supposed, but unheard of. At least to Enik it was, afterall she was in a land foreign to her. For all she knew this was the usual for strange windowless fortresses. It was probably best not to question it.

Normally, Enik assumed, people would probably feel a little panicked at how lost she was at this point. But, Enik wasn’t exactly normal. What would frighten or panic most people, never really bothered her. It’s not like she’d be lost forever. Enik strolled through the halls with the same demeanor of someone walking down the sidewalk of a place she had been before but didn’t know as well as she could. In other words the only damn she gave about besting lost was that she missed breakfast and was starving. She was still using the old coin to decide what direction to take when needed, but she was also continually flipping it for the sake of keeping her sanity. It was the only thing giving her entertainment. Plus it gave her something to fidget her hands with, so bonus.

Ugh...So! Many! Hallways! If a time machine is ever invented and I miraculously get a chance to use it only once, I’m going to use my one freebee to go back and find the guy who first made hallways! And I’m gonna punch him in the face, and shove him down a well with just enough water and leeches to live off until I can completely reconstruct his house into the most elaborate maze of hallways, it’ll make the labyrinth piss itself! Then once its all complete I’ll  grind his gerball up into burger, feed it to his cat, grind his cat into burger, feed it to his dog, grind his dog up, feed it to his kid, grind his kid up, feed it to his other kid, grind that kid up, feed it to his wife, grind his wife up into a burger, and place it in the middle of the maze! Then I’m gonna hoist his ass out of the well, punch him in the face again and seal him in the maze! Then in his weakened state from eating nothing but leeches for the past 5 years, his heightened senses will lead him to the burger like a lab rat looking for cheese and pounce on it like an animal! The second he demolishes the burger I’ll punch him in the face again! Then I’ll grind him up into burger, and eat him myself!! Thus completing the circle of life. Only then will I be satisfied.

Enik stopped and replayed what she had just ranted in her mind, then started to laugh at herself for having such a weird thought. Her sudden hatred of hallways had combined with her deepening hunger, and turned into the atrocity that just occurred. Enik still chuckled to herself a little.

“Ahahahaha...Oh God I’m fucked up…” She said as she flipped the coin again. “I’m really starting to lose it.” She said light heartedly to herself. Then she flipped the coin again, only when Enik went to catch it again it bounced off the side of her hand and rolled under an old empty bookshelf, that was kind of just there randomly. It was the only thing she had passed in the hall for some time.

“Screw you coin.” She said as she bent down to look for it.

She couldn’t really see anything underneath the bookshelf. She tried to stick her arm underneath it, but could only fit it up to her wrist. Nothing past that. Groaning she stood back up, scratched the back of her head and decided to simply move the bookshelf. It didn’t look to heavy. Enik grabbed onto one end of it and attempted to lift. Only it didn’t go anywhere. After a few moments of lifting nothing, Enik stopped before she gave herself a hernia. She took a step back and stared at the bookshelf in disbelief. There’s no way it can be that heavy. It was practically falling apart. Enik grabbed hold of it again from a different angle, and tried to lift it away from the wall. Enik gave one hard tug which was followed by a loud crack that echoed down the halls. Enik stopped what she was doing. It sounded like something that hadn’t been opened in a long time. She then noticed that the bookshelf was now weightless in her hands.

Enik let go of the bookshelf to find it had definitely moved from the wall. She put her hand on it, barely pushed it and the whole thing moved like it was a door. Actually...Enik pulled it out more and looked behind it. It was a door. The whole bookshelf was a door to a some type of hidden room. Curiosity got the best of Enik, and she entered. The bookshelf door was about an average medium large bookshelf, but the actual entrance to the hidden room was a roughly 2½ by 3 foot hole in the wall. The drop to the floor was about four feet. Enik could only see a little bit through what light came through the hole. Enik knew the drill, she started to feel around the walls for a light switch. Bingo.

The switch was adjustable, which was handy, the room however appeared to be some type of disaster bunker. There was an old mattress in the corner, a sink, a mirror, a toilet, bathtub, a very old looking mini fridge, at least thats what she assumed it was, it looked like to be some type of food preserving box, a bunsen burner, several cans of gas to run them off of, and several crates all stacked up against the right wall. Enik pulled one down and, using a crowbar she found leaning in the corner of room, cracked one of them open to find it filled with preserved food and supplies. Enik looked around in astonishment at the small bunker she was in. All of those crates must have enough food and supplies for years, if not several months. Enik spent a few more minutes basking in the pure awesomeness of it before she decided to leave. She turned off the light, closed the bookshelf, and left it looking exactly how it did when she found it.

She decided not to say anything about the bunker. It’s not like she really said anything to any of them any way, but still. For all she knew everyone probably already knew about the little room. But they didn’t know she knew. This’ll be her little secret.

* * *

Hidan as with a few others decided to look for the little nuisance. Search and rescue wasn’t really his thing. But it also wasn’t really what he had in mind. Pein had made it clear that they wanted to get Enik to trust them enough in the future so that she would willingly help them if needed. Which meant he wasn’t allowed to kill or beat the runt to a pulp. To be honest, he was still pissed about day one. He’d been painfully incapacitated and Enik had not only been nowhere near when it happened but the runt barely lifted a finger. Actually Enik literally only used a finger. Hidan's ego wouldn’t be so hurt if it hadn’t of been so easy. Just the fact that it was a runt made things worse. The idea of being taken down so easily by someone of Eniks size and strength just because of some fancy tool just made him feel emasculated.

Basically, he’d been itching to get Enik alone. The best he could really do was a few small things in the hallways. Tripping, kicking, once he grabbed the little fuck by the hair and slammed Enik into the wall. Usually this would suffice in cooling Hidan’s bloodlust and need to fight gradually, but besides it being fun, Enik didn’t show signs of being scared, or shocked or any of that. Whenever Hidan did something he’d either get no response, or a passive aggressive glare that looked like Enik was holding back from exploding. It was starting to piss him off.

He would just fight then and there, but he knew none of the others felt what he felt. None of them felt the need to beat up Enik, and none of them had a good reason to. So far the few days she’d been here as a servant Enik hadn’t done anything wrong, or crossed any of them to bad. But Hidan couldn’t stand the runt. Part of the reason he wanted to beat Enik up so bad was because he knew he could. For him it would be a little piece of redemption. To show that he wasn’t an easy kill, and put the runt in its place. Plus, it would get it out of his system.  

Hidan was smirking just thinking about it. The only problem would be finding Enik before anyone else. A nice little bit of competition. But, he was hoping someone found Enik before there was another infiltrator fiasco. A while back, a few ninja managed to infiltrate the base. Everyone had  caught and killed them all, but one had gotten away and tried to hide in the base. No one really noticed that one of them had gotten away. Apparently he had gotten really lost. We only noticed when the base started to reek of corpse...That-...That really sucked.

Suddenly Hidan Heard a cracking noise that echoed through the halls. It sounded pretty far off but definitely unusual. Hidan followed the noise through the base, until he started to find himself in the older part of the base. Hmmm. How convenient. After quite some time, Hidan could feel he was getting closer to where he assumed the sound had come from. As he got closer he heard a chiming noise. It was a coin being flipped through the air, and it was about to come around the corner.  

Enik Barely came around a corner when she was struck on her left cheekbone. The blow was so hard it sent her spinning to the floor. Enik got herself on all fours and out her hand over her now sore cheek.

“Uh...What the hell…” She groaned. She collapsed to the ground again when she was suddenly kicked in the stomach. She lied there for a moment in pain curling into a half circle and clutching her stomach. Her eyes snapped open when she felt herself being picked up by her jacket.

“I've been fucking waiting for this…”  Enik was thrown against the wall, and received another blow to her stomach. Pain surged through her core where the fist had struck, and she felt the air in her lungs being forced out. The sudden stress on her body made Enik a little disoriented. She tried to look at her attackers face, but found trouble actually lifting her head high enough to see. In front of her was a pale shirtless torso. Of course…

“What the fuck Hidan!” Enik choked out. She was still having trouble breathing from the gut shot. Hidan however chuckled menacingly to himself. He regretted not having brought any knives or his scythe, but using his fists was good enough. It felt great. Hidan dealt another punch to her mouth. Enik let out a gargled winch that told Hidan it was bleeding. Hidan grabbed a hold of the collar of Eniks jacket and lifted her higher against the wall with one hand. Enik tried feeling the walls for anything she could grab.

“Oh come on slave you're making this to easy.” Hidan chortled. Enik winced when he used the word slave now regretting she ever said anything, and retaliated by spitting in Hidan’s face. Now covered with bloody saliva Hidan slowly reached up with his free hand and wiped it away from his eye with two fingers. Eniks glare deepened even as she felt his fist clenching harder into her neck.

“...You’re going to regret that.” He said calmly then brought her away from the wall, just to slam her back into it again knocking the air from her lungs.

Enik grabbed a hold of the wrist that was holding her up and dug her nails into it as Hidan pulled his arm back and punched in the face again. He felt her body quiver from the impact, which brought on a feeling of satisfaction. When Enik recovered from the blow she could feel her head aching, and her left eye starting to swell. She tried to glare more but she knew it wasn’t coming off very strong.

“...Was that all you’ve got?” She said after a while. Hidan Growled. He wasn’t actually hitting as hard as he could, because he didn’t want to knock Enik out. He took no pleasure in beating on people who weren’t conscious enough to feel it. Still though, she was lasting longer than he expected her too. But now she was asking for it. Hidan took another swipe at Eniks face. Enik could feel the blow was much harder than the others and now had a feeling her cheekbone was fractured.

Okay, maybe aggravating the person currently kicking her ass wasn’t the most logical thing to do, but she was out of options, and she wasn’t about to start groveling...She didn’t know much about Hidan, but she knew that it wouldn’t work, and if it did it wouldn’t end well for her. Besides, she’d been in this type of situation before, granted this was the first time she was ever unarmed, but the principle was the same. This still wasn’t the first assailant she’d used this tactic on. Piss someone off enough and they lose their concentration. Hidan gave Enik another gut shot.

“Oh yeah you damned piece of shit?! Did you feel that one?” Hidan yelled in her face followed by a cackle.

“You hit like a bitch!” Enik spat. Hidan's lip curled as he pulled his arm back to smash her teeth in. Enik saw her opening and pivoted her body so she could kick Hidan in the face. It wasn’t quite hard enough to do any really damage, but it was enough to knock Hidan out of the way and make him drop her. Enik slid to the floor and tried to catch her breath where Hidan's fist had burrowed into her neck, while Hidan, who was so caught off guard, was trying to get his wits about him.  Enik got her wits back just as she realized that hidan was now standing in front of her about to make a grab for her again. Acting on instinct she pulled her arm back and punched him as hard as she could directly in his groin.

“Fuck!” Hidan hissed as he crumpled to the floor groaning in pain. Enik quickly stood up and delivered a windmill kick to his left temple. Hidan fell over and Enik stalled to see if he was knocked out, he was, before scurrying off down the halls. She didn’t really want to be anywhere close to there when he woke up in fear he might actually kill her. Enik paced herself as she ran through the halls until she felt she was a good ways away. Only then did she actually stop. Enik leaned against the wall trying to catch her breath. She could feel new bruises had formed over the ones Pein had left days ago, which hadn’t really gone away yet. She Felt her cheek stung and placed her hand over it. The cut he left had reopened too. At least this time Hidan hadn’t licked it off. She chuckled to herself realizing that this time she had spat blood back in his face.  How the hell did I get myself into this mess. Never before had the saying “there’s no place like home.” Mean anything to Enik. All she wanted was to get the hell out of here. Enik realized she was still shaking, and whether it was from adrenaline of fear she wasn’t sure, but she forced herself to stop. Enik finally looked up and realized she was back in familiar territory. She was now in a well lit area, vacant of spider webs, well kept and clean. Enik thrusted both fists into the air in triumph.

“Finally!” She said and again tried to find her way to somewhere she didn’t think she could get lost in. Preferably one with someone who wouldn’t assault her in it.

After a little longer of still trying to find something helpful Enik finally decided to open the next door she came across to try and get a better bearing on where she was. Enik went around another corner and spotted a door. Aha! She trotted up to it and reached for the handle. The second her skin made contact with the door knob, her hand started to shake again and she was overcome with a feeling of dread and apprehension. With a shaky breath breath she realized exactly what room it was, and retracted her equally shaky hand. Holly shit...I almost just went into Sasori’s room… The red head himself didn’t really frighten her much, but for some reason his room did. She really didn’t want to find out what would happen if she opened that door.

Shaking it off Enik continued down the hall. She still didn’t really know where she was going but, at least she somewhat knew where she was. Enik took out her coin and started to flip it again.

* * *

Sasori, opened the door to his room and looked out into the hallway.

“Weird…” He could have sworn that he heard someone outside his room. He quickly lost interest and ducked back into his room. He had spent as much time as he could looking for Enik, but eventually decided preparing a few of his puppets was a better way to spend his time. He hadn’t exactly put in very much effort into finding her. He was more so passing the time until he had to head out for his mission with Deidara. The mission itself was simple enough without Deidara constantly breathing down his neck about every detail. Ugh… He was not looking forward to this. Grunting he crawled into Hiruko and exited his room having loaded it up with everything he would need. It was just a simple assassination in hidden sound village, so he’d only have to endure him for a few days. Around the base for whatever reason Deidara was fine to be around. Outside the base he was barely standable.

As Sasori made his way through the halls out of the corner of Hiruko’s eye he saw something. Turning slightly he saw a very beaten looking Enik on the other end of the hall staring at the unfamiliar puppet like it was a clown strolling down the halls and waving at her like it wasn’t weird. Sasori chuckled to himself, then just continued on his way to Deidara’s room to get the blonde. I’d say sorry Enik, but I’m not. He thought as he left. He could have helped the girl out, but didn’t particularly feel like it. He could hear foot steps back the way he had came, stall, then go off in some other direction. He chuckled to himself. Enik had attempted to follow him, but waited to long and lost track of him.

Eventually Sasori passed by Deidara’s room and tapped Hiruko’s tail on the door to signify he was ready to leave. No response. He tapped again. Still nothing.

“Deidara.”

“Just a moment, un.” Now Sasori could quite clearly hear the blonde moving things around in his room.

“Um, Deidara?”

“Hold on Danna, Un!” Sasori was about to open the door himself when the door was abruptly thrown open. “Yes, un?”

“What were you doing in there?” Sasori asked. Deidara rolled his eyes as if he was greatly annoyed by the question.

“Nothing, now what did you want, un?” Sasori was about to press the subject when he suddenly remembered he didn’t care.

“Just came to inform you that I was prepared to leave.” Deidara nodded.

“Okay, I’ll be ready in a half an hour or less, I’ll meet you by the base entrance, un.” He concluded then shut the door to his room once more. Deidara looked at the poorly hidden bundle he had frantically attempted to hide. “That was close…” He breathed.

Sasori continued down the hall to find something to occupy his time with until they were to actually leave, completely oblivious to what had really just happened.

“Weird…”

* * *

Kakuzu traveled through the halls unenthusiastically. Breakfast had ended long ago and he was starting to wonder just how lost she had gotten. To be honest, if she didn’t show up within the next few days, he didn’t think anybody would even bother trying to look after that. Kakuzu was on his way back to his room from one of the unused areas when he heard a familiar chiming. One of his eyebrows raised. That was the sound of money. That was definitely the sound of money. Kakuzu went around the corner and saw a small figure clad in dark clothing.

“There you are.” He said in an exasperated tone. Enik flinched and turned to look in Kakuzu’s direction. Kakuzu noticed both the large flinch and the look of relief she hadn’t bothered to cover up. Then she stalled on the other end of the hall before Kakuzu finally beckoned her over. Though she came over reluctantly, if not tentatively, Kakuzu could see in her eyes she was probably overjoyed to have found someone. As she came out he got a better look at her. Her face was purple and puffy, and she walked like it was a little hard her her to move. She looked completely battered.

“What happened to you?” Enik stared vacantly for a moment, then shook it off.

“Ughhh I took a few wrong turns this morning, and have been trying to find my way back all day.” She said.

“No I mean what happened physically.”

“I-uh...was looking through one of the storage rooms and a bunch of junk that was stacked up fell on me…” She knew it was a bogus lie, but she wasn’t prepared with anything better. On the spot it was fine. She must look worse than she thought though, she hadn’t anticipated anyone to comment on it. Kakuzu knew it was a lie for several reasons, but decided it wasn’t worth going into and dropped the subject. Kakuzu continued to walk towards his room, and flicked his wrist to signal for Enik to follow. Enik thought it over for a moment, then decided following was better than getting lost again. She wasn’t sure about Kakuzu yet though.

As he walked he heard Enik trot up behind him. Tobi was right, she was really light on her feet. It was like being chased by a mouse. Then he could feel it. That familiar sensation followed by the long forgotten insecurities he was immune to that plagued so many in this world.

“Stop that.” He said taking Enik by surprise.

“...Stop what?”

“You know what. Stop staring at me.” He growled. Enik fell silent for a moment.

“...Sorry.” That he hadn’t expected. He expected her to deny it, or ask how he knew, but an apology was unusual. A few seconds later the ringing of a coin being flipped repeatedly started up again, and he was sure she had stopped staring and found a better way to occupy her time. As they passed another split hallway, Kakuzu heard what sounded like wooden shoes walking through it and stopped. Enik was in the middle of catching her coin when he had stopped and almost walked into him. She wondered why they had stopped but then she heard the clopping as well.

It got closer until Kisame emerged from the side hall. Kakuzu rolled his eyes. Apparently he decided to search the base anyways. Crutching as fast as he could, Kisame approached the two.

“Heeeey! You found her! Haha.” He chuckled. “Where you been all morning?”

Enik provided a shug.

“Well, since you’ve been found, I guess the search can be called off. Where you off to now Kakuzu?”

“Figure out what to do with Enik, then go back to my room I suppose.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Well, I’ve got nothing to do now, I’ll do the same.” He said, then turned to leave.

“Actually Kisame-?” Kisame looked back over his shoulder.

“Would you go inform Pein, that Enik’s been found?” Kakuzu requested. Kisame flashed him a cheeky grin.

“Sure thing!” He said and hobbled off with more enthusiasm. Enik got the feeling he just wanted something to do. Something to be useful for. She could relate to both. Kakuzu continued heading to his room with Enik in toe. He finally found his room, opened the door and sat as his desk to do what he usually does in his spare time, count up the money from recent missions, figure out the expenses, and just overall manage all of the money. He was just about to get started when he saw Enik was still standing in the doorway flipping the coin she had.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Um...I still don't know where I’m supposed to go...What should I do?” It was fairly obvious Kakuzu hadn’t intended on taking her to where she was actually supposed to go. Kakuzu rolled his eyes sighed.

“If you behave, you can stay in here. Dinner is in a few hours, if no one comes by to get you by then, I’ll dump you on Kazuma when I go to get my dinner.”  

Enik caught her coin, and contemplated it. On one hand, she didn’t know how to feel about waiting around in Kakuzu’s room. Truthfully she wasn’t quite sure if she accepted all the weird things that she had seen since she got there, and she held a little bit of contempt for a few of the Akatsuki members. Kakuzu being one of them for bringing her here in the first place, but other than that he seemed okay for the most part. Especially compared to Hidan… Though on the other hand if she stuck around in there until dinner, it only meant she didn’t have to do any chores for the rest of the night. She glanced down the halls, figured she might get lost again, and laziness won her over. With a final flip she entered the room and took a seat on the trunk at the end of Kakuzu’s bed while he calculated the months expenses. About forty five minutes passed before Enik couldn’t contain her curiosity much longer.

“What is this place?” She asked breaking the silence. Kakuzu paused for a moment before responding.

“What?” He asked. Enik went on to describe all of the untouched hallways and rooms she had walked through, and inquired about why the place was so big if most of it wasn’t in use.

“It’s an abandoned military base from the first great ninja war.” he said as if it was self explanatory.

“...What?”

“Ugh…” Kakuzu set down the stack of money he was counting and turned towards Enik. “The base we are currently living in is located in an underground abandoned military base. We only actually use one of the many abundant bunkers of the entire base, because that’s all we need. As you could probably tell from all of the dust, the base was completely abandoned over eighty years ago, and before you ask- No, no one knows about it. It’s well hidden, and most everyone has forgotten there was ever a military base anywhere around here.”

“...Most everyone?”

“It’s not completely out of everyones memory, though those who do remember are smart enough to know that if something like that hasn’t been inhabited for that longs it’s either collapsed or dangerously condemned. Short answer, there isn’t a chance anyone will come snooping around, and even if they do, they won't be able to get inside.”

“...And if they did?”

“Then theres plenty of places to hide in deeper bunkers, and if it came to it any one of us, excluding Kazuma and yourself of course, could easily defend ourselves. Anymore questions?”

“Uhhh…..nope. I don't think so.” Enik concluded as she tried to get everything straight in her head. Kakuzu turned back around to get back to his money but was stopped half way.

“Wait...What’s this?” Enik showed Kakuzu the coin she had been flipping. He eyed it for a second, then reached his hand out for it. Enik placed it in his hand, and he brought it to his face.

“...Looks like a really old coin. Might be worth something, but I’m not sure. I don’t recognize it, for all I can tell it might not’ve ever even actually been currency.” He said then handed it back. Enik grimaced at the coin and shoved it in her pocket.

* * *

Konan stumbled through the rain and the muck, now almost completely unprotected from the elements. By the time she had reached the edge of the village the whole place was in an uproar looking for the Akatsuki member. Luckily they were all looking for Konans coat. Unfortunately the clone only bought her a small amount of time, but at least they weren’t looking for her face. The clone she had cooked up was a freckle skined red head. No one would suspect her. But as she shivered in the woods she still regretted her decision. It might’ve been a good idea at first, but now she was stranded in the woods, soaked to the bone in rain, without her jacket to help keep her dry and warm, and miles from the next village.

She released a long shuddering sigh from her shivering.

“...How could I have been so rash…”

* * *

Head throbbing from being unconscious on the ground for so long, Hidan groaned and put a hand on the side of his head where he felt it the most. Oh...that’s right… He thought as he started to remember everything up until he was knocked out. Huh...well played. Hidan felt himself getting another headache, and was once again annoyed the little runt had bested him again.

“...Jashin-dammit.”

Ohhhhh myyyyyy wafffllllles! I am so sorry it took so long to write this, but you would not believe how many times I got writers block while trying to get this done...Also it turned out longer than I thought it would, which probably doesn’t make it up to anyone who has actually been reading this up till now, but still I want you to know. I. Am. Sorry.

Also I have more bad news, though I will be continuing this story, I will continue as an irregular updater. Yup, that’s right, even I don't know how long it will be until this is updated again, but rest assured, I will keep on trucking.

I Own Nothing.


	5. Escape

Her eyes eased open to the morning sunrise. It was bright. She couldn't remember what that was like, having lived underground for so long. She had only been there a few days to recover, but already she felt she should be moving on. She got out of bed, quietly searched the room for paper, and something to write with, found them, and wrote a thank you letter, set it out on the dresser, collected her things and left through the window. As she traveled down the dirt road heading east, she started to recall the previous events leading up to that point.

_It was cold. The rain hadn't stopped for two nights, and Konan had spent both uncovered from it and out in the open. She slept the first night despite it, though the next day she was shaking and shivering so badly she feared if she even tried to sleep anywhere she might not wake up. Cold and exhausted she pressed on in the direction of the next village. With how heavy the rain had been coming down, and how dark it was, she had no idea what time it was. She tried to remember the last time she had traveled this particular route._

_Had it been three? Four years? She was so tired she couldn't think clear enough to remember...and therefore, couldn't remember how long until she reached the next village. She kept on like a zombie, stumbling along the road, until she happened to glance up and notice a dry spot under a tree on the left side of the road._ Maybe just a short nap, so I can focus _. She thought as she stumbled to the side._ There's no harm in a short little nap.

 _The next time she had woke up she was in a recovery ward. After she had woken up the nurses let in a man, and a young boy. They had been returning home to their ranch with hay, when they noticed Konan, who shouldn't have been sleeping in_ that  _rain. When they tried to wake her, nothing happened. Worried they loaded her up into their cart with the hay, and took her to the hospital. As she feared would happen if she tried to sleep, she had gone into deep hypothermic shock. She thought she would've been fine with just a nap, but apparently she was so tired she didn't realize that she would of course slip into a deeper sleep._

 _The man, out of the hearing of his son, quietly told Konan the medical nin had found out, and informed him of her condition, and assured her she was okay. She could only fake a relieved smile._ If only he knew…  _After they released her they offered to let her stay at their farm for a few days just to be sure she was okay. She tried to decline, but when the son started to plead, she couldn't bring herself to say no. The wife kept her pampered and would snap at her son when she felt he was pestering Konan, prompting her to smile a little at the antics and the man was mostly working on the ranch throughout the days. Then when the rain got lighter, she left._

She really did like them too...But, she had a mission to complete. And, in it's own way, a life to get back to. She couldn't just play farm guest for the rest of her life. With a little more determination, Konan made it to the next village in another day or so.

* * *

It's been about a week since Enik last got lost. Tobi barely let her out of his sight since then. The thought of Pein getting mad over the same thing  _again,_  didn't sound like much fun to him. None the less, with the help of a few different colored lines painted on the floor, and a cheat sheet, Enik now had a way to navigate the halls. Again...Not that Tobi let her alone for long. A few of the halls were marked off with black so she'd know not to wonder off into the rest of the military base again, but she didn't have to look at it,  _or_  the cheat sheet to know she when she was going the wrong way. Every three damn steps he opened his yap.

"Enik turn right!"

"Yeah, okay."

"Enie You're going the wrong way!"

"Enie? Don't call me Enie."

"Enie that's the bathroom, not the laundry room."

"I  _know._..And I said don't call me that."

"Enie look out! That picture's crooked!"

"...What does that have to do with anything?

"A wall!"

"...Okay?"

"It's coming right at you!"

"The hell are you-Ow!" Enik said right as she then accidentally walked right into a wall.

At night she usually gave him and Kazuma the slip when everyone went to bed and tried exploring the rest of the base. Part of her knew there had to be a way out through there. No military base anywhere has only one entrance. Even if they're underground. The only problem was getting lost. Twice she had gotten lost, but thanks to the black paint on the floor, all she had to do was look for that to get back on track. One night she snuck a little bit of bread from dinner and went all Hansel and Gretel. She left bed crumbs along the floor to have a trail to follow back, she even found the old book case room again, but soon realized how hard it was to tell the bread crumbs from the dust and cobwebs...especially in the dark. The next day she nabbed some of the black spray paint from a closet, and made small tags on every corner through the halls that lead up to the hidden room. She didn't want to lose track of that. But one way or another she was gonna find a way out.

Kazuma was off cleaning the kitchen, while Enik and Tobi did the laundry. Enik separated while Tobi loaded what she handed him. Tobi was going on about something, but Enik wasn't really paying attention. She was simply focusing on separating and tuning him out. But, suddenly the back of her neck went ridged. She felt a familiar creepy feeling envelope her. She whipped around and nearly fell into the laundry she was separating when she saw the cause of her apprehension. Zetsu watched the small servant with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. He knew his appearance was still unsettling to Enik since she hadn't been around him often enough to get used to it. He thought it was entertaining to just  _pop_  in where she least expected him to. Well… He still did that anyways with everyone before he knew Enik, but he always thought her reactions were funny. Zetsu chuckled.

"Huh? Oh! Hi Zetsu!" Tobi called. Zetsu gave a nod of acknowledgment. After a short moment of Tobi waiting for Zetsu to announce his reason for stopping by, Enik standing on guard as if preparing for Zetsu to try and eat her, she'd already had to clean up one of his uh...leftover messes, and Zetsu just standing there, Tobi finally asked.

"Um...What is Zetsu, doing here?"

" **Sasori, and Deidara, are returning tonight** , and Kazuma, is making some type of dinner to celebrate. She wants Enik, and if you're up for it, to take over the big chores for today.  **Starting with mopping the halls**." Eniks eyes dropped a little, and Tobi could tell she wasn't pleased about the added chores. He got a vibe from the start she never had to clean much before now.

"No problem! Tobi, will help!" He announced, and sprung into some type of military salute.

Zetsu gave a nod, then gave one last look to Enik, who hadn't stopped eyeing him, and left. Tobi watched with amusement as Enik continued the stare at the spot where Zetsu had just been with a stony expression, as if she was waiting for him to pop back up at any moment. One way or another, he was going to get her to drop her guard. No walls can stay up forever. After a few more moments of silence Tobi heard her release a breath, and at last loosed up and turn away from her stare, prompting Tobi to giggle.

"Alright, I say we finish up here and get mopping out of the way. Sound okay?" She stated.

* * *

"Deidara let's  _go_."

"Just a minute, un. Okay so can I get a few more of those?" Deidara asked a boy working in a food stand.

Sasori pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned against a nearby building. He always forgot just how often people ate after so many years as a puppet. Not to mention his partner. It's no wonder he has so many extra mouths. He needed a way to shovel it all in himself faster. About ten minutes later Deidara approached with a large paper bag containing his lunch. There must've been enough food in it for three of four people.

"Are you ready yet? I want to get back to the base before sundown."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it, lets go un." Deidara said with irritation at Sasori's impatience.

"Woof! Woof!"

"I'm sorry?"

"That wasn't me you idiot!" Sasori scolded.

"Woof!" Both snapped their heads in the direction of an excited brown cross-breed dog tied up across the street. It continued to bark at them, and tug at the end of its chain while wagging it's tail so fast it looked like it would fly off any second. Deidara smiled a little, and Sasori rolled his eyes.

"Who's yapping mutt is that?" Sasori asked. Deidara chuckled.

"I don't know but he sure is cool looking."

"Whatever, let's just get going already. Before it's barking gives me a headache." Sasori growled.

"Oh lighten up Danna. He's just friendly, un." Deidara said as he approached the large young dog and patted it on the head. The dog in turn proceeded to sniff and nuzzle at the Deidara's lunch.

"Friendly my finely-sanded-wooden-ass. He just wants the food." He pointed out.

"Don't listen to him buddy, he's just afraid you'll chew him up because he's made of wood."

"Oh, ha-ha. Come on." Sasori said as he turned to walk away. Deidara gave one final scratch behind the dogs ear, then followed.

"Woof!" The dog yipped as it tugged on it's chain, and gradually tearing collar, in their direction.

* * *

"So, which closet has the floor soap in it?" Enik asked with her face down in the cheat sheet.

"The one up here." Tobi said referring to the direction they were walking in.

Eniks brows furrowed, but then dropped, as she dropped the subject, tucked the cheat sheet away and decided to just follow him. She soon found which closet the soap was in. She looked up at the large heavy door with a grudge. She didn't like this closet, it always got stuck when she tried to open it. After having Tobi pry it open, Enik entered the small closet in search of the soap.  _Ah-ha!_  Up on the top back shelf rested a large bottle of jackpot. One problem. Enik can't reach the top shelf. She stood there, one hand behind her head, one in her waist staring at the distance between her and the shelf. Thinking. When she couldn't think of a better idea she jumped for it. She couldn't quite reach it, but kept at it anyway.

"...Do you need help?" Tobi asked from the door...Shit.

"No. (Jump) I've got it."

"...Are you sure?"

"(Jump) Yes, (Jump.)" Tobi watched about three more pathetic jumps.

"...If you need help-"

" _No._  (Pant) I don't. (Pant) I-Oh!" Enik looked to the side and noticed a box of some kind. She drug it to where she had just been standing, and tested the top of it with her foot to make sure it wouldn't break when she stood on it.  _Seems stable_. Enik stepped up on the box. Well, she didn't fall through. That being noted, she leapt up to try and grab the bottle. She didn't quite make it. She grabbed the first thing she felt on her hands and ended up dangling from the top shelf by her fingers.

"...Do-?"

" _No!_ " Enik dangled there for another moment before she felt hands on her waist lift her high enough to grab the soap. Enik sighed.

"I said I didn't need any help."

"It was starting to get kinda pathetic." Tobi said quietly.  _Ouch_.

"...I'm not sure how I should take that coming from you…"  _So I'm just gonna remain indifferent and pretend it didn't happen._  Enik thought as Tobi lowered her to the floor. Just as she touched the floor she heard the sound of the door shutting followed by the light being cut off.  _Great._

"Tobi's blind!" Tobi called as Enik fumbled around for the door. After feeling around for a little while she found the door knob. It wouldn't turn. Enik started trying to jiggle it and pull at the knob.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Enik panicked as she dropped the soap bottle, and placed her foot on the wall and tried to force the door open.

"What is it?" Tobi asked.

"The door's stuck!"

"Huh?"

"The door is stuck! Turn on the light!" As Enik continued to thrash at the door, Tobi reached above his head and tugged on a hanging string, turning on the light. Enik gave one final try to open the door and tugged with all her might. Nothing. Feeling defeated, she balled up her hand into a fist and struck the door in frustration, then turned to Tobi who was standing uncomfortably close in the confined space.

"It won't budge." she stated as she started to cool down a little.

"Let Tobi try." Tobi said as he stepped past her. Enik raised her arms as if to say "Have at it" then leaned up against the wall with her arms crossed as she watched what he did next. With minimal effort Tobi reached out, tried to turn the knob, and tried to giggle it. Apparently realizing it was stuck He abruptly turned towards Enik.

"Okay, Don't panic! Tobi has a plan!" To Enik's surprise, he turned back to the door and knocked on it a few times. "Okay, now we wait for someone to answer."

_This can't be happening…_

* * *

_Where are those two?_  Kazuma thought as she prepared supplies for the dinner later that day. She just wanted to make a nice dinner for everyone, is that to much to ask? Apparently, since her only two helpers are missing in action. Where the heck did they go off to now? They, or at least Enik, should've been mopping, but neither of them were anywhere to be found.  _Ugh...I hope she didn't get lost again._  Hoping that wasn't the case, Kazuma looked at the clock, decided she had time and left to go look for them. As she searched the halls, it made her think of the rocky relationship Enik had with everyone, or more specifically between herself and Enik.

She's been trying to get on her good side since day one. If she was making any progress, she couldn't tell. Kazuma tried talking to her and getting her to have a conversation, but other than responses to orders, she refrained from talking. It was hard. She knew getting used to her situation would take time, but how long? At first Kazuma thought having a roommate would be kind of fun, but now… The only time she ever spoke was to brutally knock down any attempts Kazuma had for conversation just like before. The only time they were ever together in their room was when they were sleeping.

Part of her knew… She was suspicious of their knew edition. Though she was hoping they could be friends, she had her doubts. She still had yet to go through any type of emotional adjustment to any of this, she hardly ever said a word, and what use could she really have? Kazuma understand the logic behind Peins reasoning for keeping her around, she didn't really see what good she could be. The only thing Kazuma could possibly think of would be if she were to sell out everything she knew about where she came from...But who does that? It made her wonder what Itachi knew...He no doubt was used to see what was inside her head...Come to think of it, Itachi'd been acting weird since Enik showed up. Strange.

Either way, something was off with Enik, and Kazuma couldn't shake the feeling that she was planning something.

* * *

"Wait up, un!" Deidara called as he ran after his partner from some nearby bushes off the main trail they had been following.

"No! I've already stopped and waited three times since we left! I'm not standing around waiting anymore!" Sasori called behind him in irritation.

"I said I was sorry-!"

"No you didn't!"

" _Well_  then I'm sorry-!"

"No you're not!"

"-But I ate a lot of food, remember, un!"

"Whose fault is that?!"

"Oh shut it, un!" Deidara snapped as he caught up to the brooding redheaded puppet.

Four times it had been that Deidara had made Sasori stop so he could go relieve himself in a bush. And in this case, it's one of the few moments in Deidara's life when he didn't like anything to be explosive...or eternal. This time Sasori had gotten tired of waiting, and decided to just keep going on foot. It's exactly this kind of bull that happens on missions, that makes Sasori hate being around him outside the base. He could understand a few times, but with how frequent it was getting, Sasori was getting impatient. Besides, it's not like Deidara couldn't catch up. Even if he took a while, he could always track him down. The two continued to travel down the dirt road in silence, both greatly annoyed with the other. Then, they heard a far off noise. Both stopped, and turned around in an attempt to pinpoint cause of the sound.

"...What the hell was that?" Sasori wondered aloud. Deidara peered through the trees, on his top guard.

"I don't know, un…"

"Woof!"

"That sounded like-" Deidara started.

"Oh jeez don't tell me…"

"Woof!" The dog yipped as it leapt from the brush out of nowhere and tackled the tall blonde to the ground. Deidara proceeded to laugh as it mercilessly tried to lick his face, while he tried to push the large dog off. Sasori stood back and pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched the bumbling scene unfold in front of him.

"Great, now we have to deal with this…"

"Haha! What's he doing here, un? Hahaha!" Deidara said between laughing.

"Obviously he followed us here, now quit fooling around down there and get up."

"I'm not fooling around Danna! I-AH! Holly shit!" Deidara shrieked. Sasori snapped his eyes on his suddenly panicked partner.

"What is it?"

"The dog just frenched my hand, un!" Deidara explained as he held the dog at bay while it still tried to lick at him. Sasori suddenly broke into an out of character fit of giggles.

"It's not funny, un!"

"Pfffft! Y-yeah, actually it is pfffff-hahaha!" Sasori said as he broke into further laughter at the sight of the S-rank criminal being easily subdued by the young dog.

"Shut up and help get him off, un!" Deidara shouted as he tried to hold back the dog and stand up. Sasori compiled by shaking off his giggles, grabbing two hands full of the dogs fur and pulled the dog back as Deidara finally stood up and attempted to wipe off as much slobber as he could. Which just resulted in him smearing the substance around more and getting it on his sleeves.

"I think I'm starting to like this dog." Sasori said as the dog whined and tried to get at Deidara once more.

"I said he was cool, un. Heheh." Deidara said as he felt around in his pockets before producing a small clear plastic packaged pastry of some sort. "Heheheh, he almost got my last one."

"Alright then, now what do we do with him?" Sasori said regaining his composure as the dog continued to jump towards the blonde and whine. "Because I'm not dealing with this all the way back."

"Aw, what's wrong Danna? I thought you said you liked him, un. Can't we keep him?" Deidara teased.

"I never said I liked him this much. Besides, it's not like we can take him back to the base." He pointed out.

"Hmm, good point." Deidara thought for a moment.

"Go home boy! Go home!" He said as he pointed in the direction of its village. The dog merely continued to jump and tug under Sasori's grip.

"What are you doing? Let him go." Deidara said, thinking of how it couldn't leave if it was being held.

"But-"

"Just let him go!" He commanded. Sasori glared.

"...As you wish." He said in a low tone and released the hound! Within a second it had Deidara pinned to the ground again.

* * *

"Okay, I spy…"

For the last, who knows how long, Tobi had insisted on passing the time by playing eye spy. Normally that probably wouldn't seem like a bad idea right? Wrong. There was a very,  _very_ , limited amount of objects in the small closet. After waiting a little while for Tobi's "brilliant" plan to fail, followed by both of them screaming for someone to get them out until their throats got sore and it became apparent that no one was coming to get them out, they were back to plan A, which was just waiting. They had probably been stuck in there for three and a half hours by now. Just enough time for Tobi to strike up a game of I spy, and go through enough rounds of Tobi repeatedly spying the same things, that Enik could not only instantly know what he was spying, but also knew what he was going to say next before he even looked around.

Both of them were sitting beside each other on the floor in the cramped space. Tobi had his hand on his mask as he looked for his next target in the same way someone would place their hand on their chin as they thought. Enik was next to him, but had her back against the opposite wall as she repeatedly banged the side of her head on it. She had tried to stay silent and just not play, hoping he would get the clue that she wasn't interested, but that ship sailed when he wouldn't leave her alone until she gave some sort of response.

"Okay, I got one! I spy something brown."

"The shelf."

"Wow you're good at this…" He said under his breath. "Ooh! I spy-"

"Lightbulb." Enik predicted. Tobi snapped his head in her direction.

"Okay thats just freaky...Are you a psychic?" He said and reached out to touch her as if she had suddenly become intangible.

"Tobi, if you touch me, it won't take a psychic to predict what'll happen." She snapped.

Tobi's lip curled a little. She wasn't supposed to be this defiant. Pein had given specific instructions to remind her of her place should she drift from it. Even if Tobi didn't plan on doing so, in favor of hopefully befriending her, it was still a problem. Most of the time she never said anything, and even Tobi could tell it was her way of rebelling. Occasionally she gave slight attitude in responses to express her obvious loath of being ordered around, and a handful of times like this she completely lost her temper and snapped like so. Granted she only snapped at Tobi so far, but still. He was higher up than she was, it made him wonder how long they had before she snapped at someone else in the Akatsuki and really got herself into trouble. He supposed on the lighter side it might've meant she was warming up to him, but only time would tell if it was good or bad.

Enik knew she shouldn't have snapped. She regretted it the second it came out. So far Tobi had been one of the few people who had been treating her nicely and she felt didn't deserve it, though she was starting to go a little stir crazy. Honestly it wasn't being confined that was really bugging her. She's slept in more confined areas just for more cover. What she didn't like was having to share that confined space. She actually almost felt claustrophobic just being so close to Tobi. This was the most she'd ever had to be around people in a long time, but being stuck in a closet she guessed didn't really mean much compared to the whole situation, but still. On a personal level it was uncomfortable.

Before now she was never close with anyone. She rarely socialized with anyone other than a select few for job related reasons, and her landlord. Even when she went to school the closest thing she had to being social, was when she got into fights. The whole reason she got a job as a bounty hunter instead of school was because she didn't do well with anyone. The best friend she ever had was her brother, and even then they got into fights all the time. Enik completely hated her dad she wasn't going to sugar coat that. She glanced over to Tobi from the side so he wouldn't notice. She probably wouldn't have ever snapped if he hadn't tried to touch her. Frankly she'd be a little surprised if he hadn't noticed she didn't like being touched. Maybe she was like this because of her dad...hmph. After a silent moment of tension between the two, Tobi decided to try playing I spy again.

"I spy…"

"Tobi, how about we play the silent game for a while?" Enik suggested.

"Ooh, that's Deidara senpai's favorite game! Tobi is pro!" He said excitedly, then out of nowhere Enik could hear him suck in a breath of air as if he had mixed up the silent game with the who-can-hold-their-breath-the-longest game. Enik gave him an odd look and wondered to herself what version of the game Deidara plays.  _I wonder how long he'll last._

Evidently it only lasted a few minutes before Tobi released his breath through his mouth, and announced; "I lose." Enik drug her hand over her face.  _Well, it was nice while it lasted._  Tobi attempted to start up another game of I spy, as Enik resumed banging her head against the wall, when a noise came from outside the closet. Tobi fell silent and Enik stopped to listen. Someone was walking down this hall. Both instantly got to their feet and started to call out to whoever it was.

"Hey! We're stuck in the closet, get us out!"

"Tobi's in here too!"

"Help! Come open the door!" They called out other signals and banged on the door so they would be heard. The footsteps got closer until they were right outside the door. Enik's blood ran cold when she heard chuckling on the other side of the heavy metal door.

"Hahaha, Tobi you got stuck in there? Ahahaha!"

"Yeah! Enie's in here too!"

"No Fucking way, Enie? This just keeps getting better." Hidan laughed.

"You got Menie, Minie, and Moe in there too? Pffffff-HaHaHa!" Enik's blood started to boil quickly as she gave Tobi a sharp glare, causing him to flinch.

"Hidan! Shut the hell up, and open the damn door!" She shouted as she dropped a fist on the door.

"Heheh, fuck that!" Hidan responded as he cracked up.

"Please Hidan! Tobi wants to be out!" Tobi pleaded.

"Heheh, tell you what, I'll let you out, if Enik begs for it." Eniks cheeks instantly got hot.  _Not. A. Fucking. CHANCE._

" _Are you outta your mind?!_ "

"That doesn't sound like fucking begging, Bwahahaha!"

"Just do it Enie!" Tobi urged. Tobi knew hidan would be a dick about it when they got out if she did, but what he didn't know was the extent to how Hidan had been abusing Enik since she was captured. Begging to him for anything, would be digging the grave for her own horrific demise. Enik crossed her arms.

" _No_." Hidan merely laughed.

"Looks like you're fuckin' staying in there then."

"HIDAN OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!" Enik bellowed from the small closet.

"Just beg Enie!" Tobi urged.

"Heheh, see you later." Hidan said as he started to walk away from the closet. Enik started to go berserk thrashing at the door, and yelling at the Jashinist.

"OH NO YOU DON'T HIDAN! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND LET US OUT, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Enik yelled. Tobi stood back and watched in annoyance that she wouldn't just do as he asked. When she finally cooled down and stopped she was left standing there tensely looking down and seething through her teeth with every breath. Hidan could be heard somewhere in the distance laughing like a kid in a candy store.

"...Why didn't you just-"

"TOBI SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FREAKIN' UNSTABLE MANCHILD!" She shouted.

* * *

"Enik?! Tobi?! Either, and or both?!" Kazuma called.

 _I'm going to kill them. As soon as I find them, I'm taking them straight to the kitchen, drugging their apple juice, putting them through my meat grinder, and feeding them to Zetsu!_  Kazuma thought bitterly as she continued searching for those two. She did what she could for dinner later, then started up looking for them again. So far she hadn't found anything that even said they were in existence. It took a lot to upset Kazuma, but if they were sitting around slacking off somewhere... _Oh they are going to get it._  Normally, it wouldn't matter much to her if they slacked off, but today was a different story. She needed them to take over her chores so she could work on dinner, and as she passed every untouched room it became apparent how little was done. As she brooded down the halls about it she started to hear something. As she followed the sound of chuckling, she was a little disappointed to find it was just Hidan.

"What's so funny?" she asked. Hidan chuckled a little and gave a half-assed attempt to compose himself.

"N-nothing. It's nothing." he giggled.

"Oh...Well, have you seen Tobi, or Enik?" She asked. Hidan shook his head.

"Why?" He asked.

"They were supposed to be helping me out with my chores today, but I haven't seen either of them in a few hours...I think they might've gotten lost somewhere in the older parts of the base." She explained. Hidan once again broke out into a fit of giggles.

"Pfffffft! Again? Really? Fuckin' idiots." He laughed, then proceeded to walk passed Kazuma and keep going in the direction he had been heading in.

"If I see them I'll let you know." He called over his shoulder.  _Then again, I never_ actually  _saw them, heheheh~_

"Thanks." She called back.  _Huh...he's being unusually helpful._  Kazuma thought. She turned and looked down the hall Hidan had just come from, and contemplated whether or not to go through it. After a moment, she decided that if he hadn't seen anything down that way, they probably weren't down there. As she walked further down one of the hallways she caught a glance of Itachi's room. With a why not shrug, Kazuma entered the room. Inside she found Itachi, and Kisame playing a card game. Kisame looked up with a perplexed half grin.

"Uh...what's going on?" He asked. Like everyone else in the base, he already knew Kazuma was busy today. What business could she have in there with them?

"Have either of you seen Tobi, and Enik?" Oh, that's what.

"Not since this morning." Kisame answered. Itachi merely shook his head. Kazuma growled in annoyance and turned to leave as Kisame held back a smile at her display. It made him wonder what they had done to get under her skin. Though just then Kazuma turned back and re-entered the room.

"Hey Itachi can I talk to you real quick?" She asked. Itachi looked taken aback by this. He looked over to Kisame as if to ask permission to leave their game. Kisame rolled his eyes and in the most obvious way he could, gesture to the door with both arms. With a nod in Kazuma's direction Itachi stood and followed her to the hall. Once the door was shut Kazuma gestured with her hand for him to follow.

"Let's take a short walk."

* * *

"Woof! Woof!" The dog yipped...and had been yipping since it found them.

Sasori trudged down the road with has arms covering his ears, while Deidara dealt with the worst of it. The dog had knocked him on his ass several times and gotten so much slobber on his clothes, and face, he was starting to think they would never dry again. At first it was kinda funny, but it had gotten old after the first twenty minutes. Besides the fact that Deidara now looked like he had been homeless for weeks by the dirt all over his clothes, both of them were completely fine, despite wanting to go deaf. Sasori was beginning to wish his sense hearing had never been eternal, and Deidara was in the middle of contemplating blowing himself up just so that he didn't have to be bothered by the damn thing.

"Still think he's cool Deidara?" Sasori piped with an agitated tone.

They'd tried getting rid of the dog. When they got it calm enough to stay off of Deidara, they tried to shoo it away and make it go back to it's village. Which resulted in it becoming excited, and attacking him all over again. They tried making it stay, and just walk off without it, but it would only stay in that spot for a little while before bounding up to them all over again. Deidara tried throwing things, but the dog took no interest in chasing them. They even had to resort to running through the trees until they got tired, but the dog just ran along with them in the ground… With so little results it was taking a toll on the artists prides.

"Shut...the hell...up, un!"

"Whatever, just be happy I was able to get him off when he started hump-"

"SHUT UP, UN!"

"Woof! Woof! Woof!" The dog yipped.

"AND I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU, UN!" The blonde bellowed.

"Woof! Woof!"

"Dannnnnnaa!" Deidara whined. "I can't stand it anymore!"

"Pull it together, and quit whining already! You think I like putting up with this?"

"I can't help it! We have to get rid of it!" He said as the dog once again jumped at him, ingniting the sparks.

"That's it!" He yelled, then suddenly reached out toward Sasori.

"What do you think you're-HEY!" He yelled as the blonde grabbed onto and detached his left arm from the forearm down, and preceded to wave it around tauntingly in front of the dog.

"Here boy! Here! Go  _fetch!_ " He said and chucked it as far as he could into the brush.

To his surprise the dog actually ran after it. In that quick moment Deidara hooked Sasori's right arm and made a mad dash in the opposite direction. After a few moments of being awkwardly tugged at Sasori shoved Deidara off of him and ran along with him. After a good distance, and then some more for good measure, the two finally came to a stop. It was sundown, and the dog was nowhere in sight.

"I can't ...believe...that actually worked...Danna?" Deidara said between pants. He glanced over to Sasori. He. Was.  _Pissed_. The look on his face was like he was about to explode. In two short strides he was in front of Deidara, who was so petrified at the moment he didn't even try to dodge when Sasori pulled his arm back and bitch slapped him, then grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in close.

"...You're  _damn_  lucky that actually worked." He growled. Deidara opened his mouth to say something but fell silent as they heard the familiar trotting of the dog. With wide eyes both looked in the direction it sounded like it was coming from. It wasn't in sight yet, but they could hear it was almost to them coming from the brush from the surrounding woods.

"...Deidara?"

"...Yeah, un…?"

"...We need to kill that dog." As the words escaped his tired mouth, they heard low growling. Standing with it's ears back, and it's head low was the, formerly friendly, now menacing looking dog growling with Sasori's half chewed arm clamped in it's jaw.

"...Danna, un?"

"...Yeah…?"

"...I think it heard you, un…"

* * *

"Okay fine Tobi, just sit there and pout."

Ever since Enik snapped out of frustration, Tobi hadn't said a word to her. At first it was pretty nice, especially since it let her calm down without a spike of annoyance, but after about an hour it became a bit uncomfortable. Normally Enik would be more than comfortable just sitting in silence. Relaxed. With being uncomfortably confined in the closet she would've thought it would come as a small comfort. Seemed like that'd be the case if it weren't for the fact that Tobi was pouting. Enik had never bothered spending time with people who were upset with, or just plain didn't like her. Why would the laidback antisocial? She never really saw a point in useless fighting, other than for fun, and would rather just not deal with it or brush it off with a 'whatever' attitude.

But being stuck in close quarters with someone upset with you? She never realized how uncomfortable it could be when she couldn't ignore it. Tobi had stayed quiet with his arms crossed and staring straight at her. She couldn't actually see if he  _was_  staring, what with the mask, but he was unfalteringly facing her, and the eye hole seemed to burrow into her soul. Probably the fact that she couldn't see if he actually was staring at her, was making her newfound claustrophobia suffocate her. Even with the dim lighting it had become a bit of a challenge to avoid looking his way, and not the good kind. After quite a while, she had even awkwardly tried getting him to talk to her again. Not a word. It was strange getting the silent treatment. Getting a taste of her own medicine. To make matters worse, with a flicker the lightbulb above them buzzed a final surge of energy before fading to it's untimely death leaving them in the dark as well… _Ugh...not you too light bulb. Don't leave me now._ It wasn't completely dark. Enik could still see fairly well through the darkness but still, it just added to the eeriness radiating off Tobi. He hadn't even slightly moved since he went on strike. With a slight burst of agitation, Enik tried getting Tobi to talk again.

"Are you going to grow up and stop pouting yet?" Enik scorned through the darkness. As expected he gave no response. She was starting to think he had fallen asleep on her.

"Hey? Tobi? You awake?" She asked as she nudged him in the stomach with her boot. When he stood his ground, and showed no indication that he had just been woken up, or disturbed, she came to the conclusion that he had in fact still been pouting. Her lip curled a little.

"You know Tobi, it doesn't really matter how much you pout if I can't see your face." That got a response. After a moment of assumed pondering, Tobi unfolded his arms slightly, then quickly folded them back into place to, what Enik also assumed, emphasize the fact that he was pouting.

The first time she hadn't quite caught what the point of it was, and just flinched at his sudden movement after so long. The second time she noticed it more when after about five minutes had passed and he spastically flailed his arms around before forcefully refolding them. It was actually kinda funny. Enik had to hold back the urge to smirk and laugh, so she could pretend like she didn't notice it. Just so that he'd keep doing it. It was entertaining for a little while but then it got a little to hard to fake a straight face.

"I  _get it_ Tobi, you're  _pouting._ " She said in a fake snarl to prevent laughter.

Tobi let his shoulders sag and let out a defeated sigh. He had wanted to keep it up until she finally apologized, or at least gave some sign that said she was sorry, and trying to get his attention didn't count. Unfortunately, he only had a limited supply of grudge in him. Pouting was getting him nowhere, but it made him feel a little better. As he shifted his position on the floor he decided to just let it go for the time being. _How can Enie have this much pride?_  Tobi thought. Seriously though, either she was to prideful to apologize, or she was just oblivious...and in that case...Wow. As he sat in silence, not having decided to speak yet, he noticed something. Enik's hands were in plane sight.

Even through the darkness and both hands being balled up and half covered with her sleeves, he could clearly see them. They were even worse than the red streaks that trailed down her neck. Her hands looked as though they had been fried to close to a flame and ignited like a marshmallow. All over. Her fingers and what hand she could see were covered with shades ranging from dark red to bleached white streak and splotched with burn scars.  _No wonder she hides them_. With a sinking feeling it dawned on Tobi that if her hands were this bad, and she had scars trailing down the bottom of her face and neck, they were probably on other parts of her body as well. With a shiver he unconsciously thought of someone as young as her being burnt so severely. His eyes widened as he wondered how old she was when it happened. Thankful that she couldn't see his wide eyes expression, Tobi tried not to dwell on the haunting thought. As he looked closer, he noticed she was wearing two carved wooden rings. One on each middle finger. The one on the left was painted black with the shape of a crescent moon left white and unpainted. The right one right was left completely white from the wood and had a black painted sun on it. He had to ask.

"What're the rings for?" Enik looked up with a look of surprise, partly because he was talking again, and partly because of his question.

"H-huh?"

"Your rings. What are they for?" Tobi repeated. Enik looked down at the rings on her balled up fists.  _Well, he's probably already gotten a good look at my hands._  she thought as she unballed them.

"They're just good luck charms." She stated.

"What type of luck? What do you mean?" Tobi asked. Enik shrugged.

"Protection from evil, and misfortune. Thing's like that. I usually wear them when I leave to go after bounty's." She let out a dry soulless laugh. "I guess they didn't help me to much this time."

"Do they usually work?" Tobi asked ignoring her side comment. Enik sat up a little as she stared deeply at the rings, as if examining them.

"I don't know...I guess things aren't as bad as they could be." She said after some deep thought, then looked up.

"Anyway, for all I know, and the place I bought them at, they could just be fake, but either way they were hand carved, and that says something to me." Enik said. Tobi could swear he heard a hint of admiration in her monotone voice when she said it.

"Well Tobi think's their cool!" He beamed. Then just like they had only a handful of times that Tobi had seen, the corners of Eniks mouth threatened to smile.

"...Thanks Tobi."

* * *

"GO DANNA! GO! THE BASE IS ONLY A FEW MILES AWAY, UN!" Deidara called.

"I know! I know! Just be quiet already!" He called back as they ran.

Ever since Sasori opened his big mouth, the once playful dog had turned into the phantom of their nightmares. Every so often it would come out of nowhere, and lung and bite at the two of them, the disappear into the darkness itself it seemed like. It wasn't even so much that the dog was scary, so much as, it wouldn't leave them alone. Every time it decided to show itself to them, neither of them would even notice it's presence until it was within a few feet of each one of them. Then when it had obtained its objective of surprise and startlement, it would evade their capture with ease. Imagine being a shinobi of their status, that can't even find or catch a dog.

As much as Deidara didn't want to admit it, it was kinda freaking him out. Sasori wasn't freaked out or scared, but still found it unnerving. A they went, they had been leaping through the trees for a while. Every now and then if they looked down, a glimpse of the dog running after them could be seen for a second before it disappeared. That second was enough to mess with Deidara's nerves, though Sasori remained smart enough to keep his eyes ahead instead of down. Deidara felt his blood go cold as they stopped on a tree branch...None of the surrounding tree branches were big enough to support them. If only just for a little while, they would have to go back on the ground.

"...Deidara?"

"No."

"Look, we don't really have a choice here-"

"NO, UN!" Sasori pulled his (only) hand and for the second time that night slapped Deidara across the face. Though, this it it was a backhand.

"GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF! It's just one dog!" Sasori yelled in an awkward attempt at a pep talk.

"Are you gonna let yourself be defeated by some mutt?!"

"N-no!" Deidara said with some confidence.

"WHAT?!"

"Hell no, un!" He responded with some energy.

"Yeah!" Sasori yelled as they both leapt to the ground. Deidara hadn't even touched the ground yet when the demon dog jumped out and tackled him to the ground. With its front paws pinning his chest to the ground it snarled and barked in his face loudly. Deidara almost pissed himself.

"DANNA GET IT OFF! DANNA GET IT OFF!" He shriek and repeated as he tried in vain to throw the dog off of him. Sasori came forward to help just as the dog turned towards him. In an instant the dogs teeth were tached onto Sasori's right leg. Before he had time to even realize what was happening, with a tug his leg from the knee down had been popped off and disappeared with the dog into the trees. As Deidara recovered from his moment of terror and pulled himself to his feet, Sasori stood a little off balance, staring into the woods in shock of what had just happened.

"It took my leg!" He voiced in a shocked outrage.

"Who cares, here's our chance, un!" Deidara said as he shoved passed Sasori and headed in the general direction of the base.

"Hey, wait up!" Sasori called as he wobbled and tried to catch his balance with his arms flailing about. He turned, and took a few hops after Deidara, then lost his balance and face planted.

* * *

Kazuma worked steadily on dinner. It was all just about ready. As she worked on placing the final dishes on the table, she thought back to the conversation she had in the hall with Itachi. She badgered him endlessly with questions about Enik, what she was like, what type of person is she, is she always like this, do you think she could be planning anything...Why does she bother you. To all of the questions Itachi only gave small vague answers that didn't even really answer most of her questions.

When she asked why Enik bothered him, there was a change. He was silent for a long time, before kazuma repeated herself for the answer. He tried to play dumb and pretend that he didn't know what she was talking about, but even as he thought it he knew she'd know it was a lie. When she once again repeated the question, he simply continued to dodge the question, and say that it was nothing. After a little while he said he neede to get back to Kisame. Something about if he's alone too long in the middle of a game, not only will he look and his cards, but with enough time, will redeal the entire game and try different ways of giving himself the best possible hand, and Itchi the worst. She wanted to press the subject about Enik further, but knew he would just dismiss her, and she wouldn't get anything. So there she was, left with more questions than answers. As she worked, Zetsu then entered the room with a big grin on his face as it he had been laughing.

"What's so funny?" Kazuma asked with interest. Zetsu chuckled a little.

"Oh, just Tobi and Enik." he chuckled. Kazuma almost dropped what she was holding.

"What?! Do you know where they are?!"

" **What? You weren't aware?** "

"Where are they Zetsu?!"

"They've been stuck in a closet all day." He chuckled. That came as a surprise...

"What? Which one?" She asked.

" **That one in the hall that always gets stuc** -"

"Oh…" Kazuma said as it started coming together.

"By the way, Sasori and Deidara are about to arrive." Zetsu called over his shoulder and he looked through the fridge for something to drink.

"Oh, okay, um...Will you go let them out?" Kazuma asked as she headed off towards the entrance.

"Sure." Knowing Tobi and Enik were taken care of, Kazuma headed off towards the entrance. She got there just in time to see...well Sasori looked the same, but Deidara had the most panicked look on his face Kazuma had ever seen. Bother were standing in the middle of the room leaning over themselves and panting.

"We...made it...un." Deidara breathed. Both then noticed Kazuma enter the room and stood straighter.

"Welcome back guys, how...was the…" Kazuma's sentence slowed as she got a good look at the two. Sasori was missing an arm and a leg, and Deidara looked like he had been drug through a gutter.

"...Mission?" She finished. Deidara through his arms in the air.

"I don't wanna talk about it, un." He said then left the room. If she had to make a guess he must've left to go take a shower.

"The mission was a success, how's things been around here in our absence?" Sasori asked.

"Enik and Tobi are trapped in a closet-"

"-What?"

"But other than that it's been fine-What happened to you two?" Kazuma asked. Sasori stared blankly for a moment, then without a word just left to go to his room instead of answer the the question about their embarrassing retreat. Kazuma watched him go with confusion, but sighed and decided to shrug it off. At least they came home safely.

As Sasori reached his room he went straight to his bed and pulled out a large wooden box from underneath it. He opened it with a click and examined the contents. Inside were his spare parts. With what could be classified as a grimace he pulled out a left hand, and popped it in it's place on his left arm. Next was...Why was the right leg missing? Sasori froze and wondered about it for some time. Maybe he already used it and forgot to make another extra.  _Ugh...how human of me…_  as he brushed that thought aside, he reached for the spare left leg.  _It'll have to do._  He thought as he popped the left leg into his right knee. For the time being, until he made a new right leg, he was going to have to be stuck with two left feet.

* * *

"I spy something rectangular."

"Is it the shelf?" Enik asked.

"Yep!"

"Okay, my turn...I spy something round."

"Umm…is it the soap bottle?"

"Yeah, your turn."

"I spy something...Three dimensional."

"The box?"

"Uh-huh."

"I spy something cold."

"You can't  _spy_ something  _cold_." Tobi stated.

"Whatever just guess."

"Hellooooooo!" Zetsu said as he suddenly appeared from the floor. Enik made some type of panicked incomprehensible sounds of gibberish as she in a flash rose to her feet and backed flat against the wall, causing Zetsu to chuckle. Eniks responses really were entertaining.

"Zetsu! You came to rescue Tobi!" Tobi called with delight.

" **...Sure. I'll have you out in a second.** " Zetsu said, then sunk through the floor again. Enik barely relaxed when the door she was up against was opened and she fell on the floor in the doorway and groaned, "I  _hate_ that closet."

"Tobi's free!" He called as he burst out the door and over Enik, then ran halfway down the hall. he skidded to a hault and looked back.

"C'mon Enie!" Enik rolled her eyes, and picked herself up, then her eyes widened as she realized how close she was to Zetsu, who was watching in interest.

"By the way, dinner is ready, so you may wish to get to the kitchen dining room soon.  **Or risk the wrath of Kazuma.** " She didn't need to be told twice. With a nod she idly started to walk over in Tobi's direction. As she approached she looked back over her shoulder to see that Zetsu was already gone.

As they entered the dining room a few of the members had already showed, including Zetsu somehow, and were getting dished up. Kazuma smiled at Enik like she usually did, She wasn't mad at her anymore, then hooked Tobi by the arm and tugged him away. With a shrug and nothing better to do, Enik went over to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

Tobi on the other hand was getting an earful. She wasn't buying the whole "It just got stuck by accident" act. She knew Tobi had lived here long enough to know what that door was like, and knew he knew it well enough to both avoid getting it stuck, and he could've easily broken the door down, or teleported out of it. He'd been caught red handed.

"No, no, no, Zumi, don't be mad!" Tobi begged.

"I'm not mad! I just want to know what happened!" She retorted. She certainly sounded mad.

"The door just shut and tobi couldn't open it!" He said again.

"Nice try, but Zetsu said the latch had been locked over it Tobi. ANy ideas how that had happened?"

The red was dripping off of his hands now. Most of the heavy metal doors like that in the base, had large bar latch locks above them. f they weren't set right, they'd lock the door right after closing. Everyone would make sure that the latches were in place on those doors so that they wouldn't do that, but that door had locked anyways. It meant someone had moved the latch to lock. Tobi raised his arms in defence.

"Okay, Tobi let the closet lock on purpose!" He said. Kazuma released a breath.

"I needed you two today, Tobi, why?" Tobi patted the top of her had.

"Tobi needed to reach and objective." He said simply, as he went to go to the table. "We'll talk about it later."

After a while, everyone finally made it to the dining room for the feast kazuma had prepared. Enik's mind boggled at everything laid out on the table. She didn't know what most of it was, but it looked  _good_. She was sitting between Tobi and Kisame in the middle of the table. From left to right it went her, Tobi, Kazuma, Pein, Where she assumed Konan usually sat, Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, Hidan, Zetsu, Itachi, and Kisame. Next to her she could hear Kisame making jokes about Sasori having two left feet, or asking Kazuma if this dinner cost an arm and a leg, then sending him a wink. Deidara was plainly dodging any attempts to say what had happened on the way home, Sasori was telling Pein about how his puppet Hiruko had been destroyed in the fight, and would have to be rebuilt, but other than that the mission was a success. Enik remembered that to be the name of the puppet she had met a week ago the day she had gotten lost. Kazuma had explained it. With a warm thought she thought of how helpful Kazuma had been to her since she came. Everyone else just seemed to be having casual conversation with each other. Out of curiosity she turned to Kisame.

"Um...Kisame?" She asked trying to get his attention. He turned toward her with the usual smirk.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"What's this dinner for? I thought we only had breakfast together?" She asked. It was true. The deal was breakfast together, get your own lunch, then eat dinner where ever you want. What was the "special" dinner for?

"Well, yeah usually we do  _just_  have breakfast together, but tonights different. Sasori and Deidara just got back from their mission, and Kakuzu and Hidan are taking off before breakfast tomorrow. It was just easiest to do a dinner instead of a breakfast this way." He said. Enik nodded as she thought about it. It made sense. A plan hatched in her head as she thought.

As she glanced around at everyone it made her wonder about the bonds they shared with each other. Made her wonder about what she knew of them. First there was Tobi, he was sometimes annoying, but also sort of funny in a way. He meant well in what he did, and was always nice to Enik. Then there was Kazuma, she was always trying to be helpful, and try to reach out to Enik. She still seemed like the all around nice person Enik assumed she was...Then there was Pein… Enik wasn't sure what to think about him, considering their first encounter had been an interrogation. He had this air about him that demanded respect, and he had hers, but she was still wary of him. The bruises he had left were only just starting to fade. Next was Deidara, she didn't really have anything against him, but didn't really know anything about him either. Though she could tell he didn't like her much, and after their first encounter she wasn't going to hold it against him.

After Deidara, was Sasori. The living puppet himself. She didn't know much about him either, other than how intimidating he can be when he want's too. Other than that he seemed pretty neutral. He was neither nice, nor was he a jerk. he was straight forward and few of words the few times they had spoke to each other. She could respect that. Then there was Kakuzu. He was intimidating as hell, and she still caught herself staring at him and had to make herself stop. But, after getting lost last week, she now had a new place to hang out and hide in whenever she wanted to slack off on chores. Basically she'd finish what she was given daily, then go hide in there and relax the rest of the day, so she wouldn't be assigned more work. It wasn't a bad deal. So long as he was in his room, and he permitted her too, she was allowed to hide in there if she didn't bother him. Sometimes they even had conversations. Mainly only if one or the other had questions about their cultural differences, but still, it was nice. He was cooler than he seemed.

Then of course there was the immortal bastard himself. They didn't think much of each other, so she didn't really have much to say. She almost completely hated him. He was an abusive fuckhead, and an ass. She sent him a glare across the table, which he saw and smirked as he thought back to the events that took place earlier that day. They'd been avoiding each other since last week. Hidan had been nursing his ego, and Enik just didn't want to get into it again. At least not yet. Filled with disgust she continued down the line. Zetsu creeped her out immensely. She could deal with his looks if she had the chance to get used to them, but she rarely ever saw him. The fact that she had to clean up a few of his messes only made it worse, and the fact that he liked to pop in at random times...She was starting to think he was doing it on purpose.

Next was Itachi. Again, she didn't know much about him. He seemed to be one of the more level headed ones in the bunch, but it seemed like he was avoiding her…which she didn't have a problem with. If he could read her mind, or what ever, she didn't really want to be around him. Last but not least was Kisame. So far he seemed like a really chill guy. Just like Kazuma and Tobi, he tried to talk to her, and just like them sometimes she did sometimes she didn't. There was an incident once when she had accidently knocked over one of his crutches and he fell to the ground. She thought she was going to die, but he just laughed it off. Out of everyone, she had already warmed up to his appearance just by how chill he was about everything.

After a while, Enik glanced at Tobi's plate and noticed it was completely full.  _That's right, how's he supposed to eat with that mask on_. She thought. Instead of taking it off, he just sat there patiently waiting for everyone to finish like usual, then when everyone starts to leave he would take his dish to his room, Enik assumed, where he would take it off to eat. Just like tonight. Because just as Itachi and Kakuzu started to put their dishes in the sink Tobi rose from his seat to leave. But before he grabbed his plate he slipped. His foot went out from underneath him, and he ended up hitting his face on the table on the way down. A smirk was stationed on Enik's face as Kazuma asked if he was alright. A few of the others were chuckling. Tobi remained on the floor with his hands placed on his mask.

"Owwie!" He said.

"Ow? Whataya mean ow? You've got that mask protection you're face." Enik pointed out.

"Tobi's mask slammed into his nose…" With that, very slowly at first, Enik couldn't hold it in. She burst out laughing, and couldn't stop. Those who were laughing stopped and listened in shock.

"Holy shit…" Kisame awed. "Enik's laughing…"

Tobi smirked under his mask.  _Objective accomplished._  Then he started to feel something warm running down his face. I a second he shrieked that his nose was bleeding, then bolted out of the room to go fix it, causing Enik to laugh even harder.

* * *

Konan had at last reached the village she had been looking for. It was large, well put together, and there wasn't a thug in sight. Of course it was the middle of the night, but hey, thats prime crime time. As she walked through the streets she at last found an inn, got a room and went straight to bed. She was exhausted from traveling all day, she'd have been thankful even if all she found was a piece of dry cardboard to sleep on. As she drifted off to sleep she thought of the next day...Tomorrow she'd have to start all over again.

* * *

It was late. Enik didn't know how late but she could tell it was really late. She'd started planning this at dinner, as soon as she had heard Kakuzu and Hidan were leaving. It was the perfect opportunity to finally figure out where the exit in this place was. After dinner she waited for Kazuma to go to sleep before sneaking off and, despite not really wanting to after today, hid in the closet by Hidan's room. She made sure to triple check to make sure that the door wouldn't get stuck. The plan was to wait in there until Hidan left his room to leave with Kakuzu, then follow them until she found out where the exit was. Then she just had to get her stuff and sneaking out would be a breeze. The only problem was the wait. Kisame hadn't specified when they were leaving, he just said before breakfast, and she didn't dare ask and risk raising suspicion. It could litterally be any time in the night It didn't matter she'd stay up all night if she needed to. Hours passed, and Enik was on the brink of falling asleep when his door finally opened. Enik heard Hidan yawn as he exited the room.

"...Fuckin' Kakuzu...making me get up this freaking early…" He grumbled. Enik waited a few moments for him to get a little bit of distance before soundlessly opening the door and starting to follow. She felt the need to stretch and yawn, but repressed it in favor of focusing on the task at hand.  _I feel for ya'._

She followed him in the dark all the way until he got to the big room she had gone through several times. She stayed in the shadows of the hall as he met up with Kakuzu in the middle of it. They were talking, but she couldn't quite hear what they were saying. Braving it a little more, she risked getting closer and being seen.

"-Yeah, what-the-fuck-ever, Kakuzu."

"You're the one who didn't want to sit around and get recon."

"It's fucking boring, and an insult to Jashin!"

"Whatever, just go to the left side. I got the right."

"T's, yeah, yeah." Enik watched with wide eyes as they both went to two different sides of the wall and placed their left hands on them. She couldn't see their right hands' but assumed they were useing some type of hand sign. Lastly she heard them both say something under their breaths. Then just like that, with the loud sound of rumble rumbling, and part of the seemingly solid wall split down the middle, it began to move apart to reveal a small, yet long, dark rocky tunnel. The same one she had first entered through. As they entered the tunnel the sounds of Hidan's belly aching could be heard echoing through it as the walls slid back shut. Enik was paralyzed.

Once it fully sunk in what had just happened, Enik sprang from the hallway, and charged at the wall trying to figure out how to open it, even if she already knew...She looked for a special spot on it that might have a pressure plate, or a hand scanner. Something she could work with. There was nothing. Not even a crack where the wall had split.

The only way to get the doors open was to use ninjutsu, something she could never do if she wanted too. Her only way out was unattainable… She walked through the halls like a ghost, not caring about the volume of her trudging, who found her, of where she went. eventually she found herself outside of her's and Kazuma's room. She placed a hand on the door to push it open, but hesitated.

_No...there's always a way out._

 


	6. Just Another Day

Dark. The room was dark when he opened his eyes that morning. Just like it always was before a light was turned on, and just like it would always be while he lived here. The dream he had been having had already faded and he could no longer even remotely remember anything pertaining to it. His eyes blinked less and less as he adjusted to the dark. His body was still shaking from whatever terror the dream had been about. That much he knew. It was some type of nightmare, though he still couldn’t think of what it had been about, or why it was scary.

Someone knocked on the door. He could tell by the not-so-soft way they knocked that it was Enik. There was an odd change in her over the past few days. Ever since the dinner two nights ago, she had been talking a little more freely, but her demeanor had changed. Before she stayed stoic and had almost no emotion in anything she did or said. But now… It was a little bitter sweet. On one hand she was talking more, but after laughing at dinner he had expected her to be a bit more carefree and light hearted, and a little less pissed off looking. One step forward and two steps back, Enik seemed a little more melancholy than before. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but she just seemed a little more down than she had been the few weeks she had been here. Almost defeated in a way.

With a wince he sat up, and called that he would be there in a second. Or two. He took in a few breaths of the stale underground air. Reaching over, he flicked a switch on an outdated metal box protruding out of the wall that turned on a dull flickering light from the middle of his ceiling. As he threw off his blankets and threw his legs over the side of the bed he paused. He couldn’t explain it but he was feeling good. He felt oddly at peace, and optimistic. With a glance to the brace wrapped around his fractured wrist, he started to take it off. He tested his wrist by moving his hand in all directions while extending his stiff fingers. The movement was smooth, and didn’t hurt other than a slight sore pang in certain angles. The swelling had gone down, and it felt easy enough to move. Kisame was feeling unusually good. This was going to be a great day.

* * *

Yesterday had gone smooth enough. Kakuzu and Hidan had reached their pitstop village sooner than expected, and with minimal arguments between the two, and minimal annoyance on Kakuzu’s part. They got a room at an inn, Kakuzu wanted to save money so that meant a small room with one bed, and Hidan sleeping in the floor. He bitched and moaned about it for about an hour, but eventually gave it a rest for the night. In the morning however he was nowhere to be seen. Kakuzu was used to this sort of thing happening one missions, but something felt strangely off this time. When he got up he just had a bad feeling all around. A familiarly bad feeling. A gasp escaped his lips when he put on his cloak. One of the pockets felt lighter… In an instant his hand was vigorously searching through the left pocket, to find it empty.

“...Oh hell no!” Hidan had made off with Kakuzu’s wad of carrying money.

A few minutes later Kakuzu had emerged onto the streets of the small village to begin his mass search. He eyed his way through the crowd looking for the silver haired zealot with so much scorn, that passersbys who could only actually see his eyes, were ducking away to avoid his gaze. A few kids even starred with quite frightened expressions for undisclosed amounts of time before scurrying off. He was surprised to find that Hidan was nowhere in sight. Not so much that he was actually gone, more so because that meant he would’ve had to have gotten up fairly early. And if he knew his partner, that was rare. If he wasn’t so pissed at the moment he might’ve been slightly impressed deep down that he had not only gotten up early, but eluded himself so well...Way deep down.

With an agitated sigh Kakuzu started his search through the village. Most of the bars were closed, since it was still early in the day, but it didn’t hurt to ask around. Outside one of the bars he found a worker cleaning up a bit from last night and asked him a few questions. The man flinched at first when he was approached suddenly by the towering Kakuzu. Soon after getting over the initial shock of it, he relaxed some and complied with answering Kakuzu’s questions. After describing Hidan's appearance and personality, the man started to remember someone like that leaving the bar around two in the morning, which caused Kakuzu to both wonder when he had actually left, and how much of Kakuzu’s money was left. Then the man added that he had run up a tab and left without paying. Okay...so I don’t have to worry about that. He thought with some relief.

After leaving a now confused man to go about his business, Kakuzu continued down the line and asking around other bars, some of which had similar stories and a few surprisingly hadn’t seen anyone like him enter. He even found a bar already open and thought he’d find the Jashinist in there for sure only to discover he wasn’t in there with the small crowd of drunken day losers. Now he was just back on the street looking for anything that might’ve caught Hidan's attention. He even asked a group of homeless people if any of them had been assaulted or murdered, causing them to scatter without answering his question. He probably could’ve softballed tha one in better.

Spotting a church up the street, and out of options other than to just go back to the hotel and wait for his return, Kakuzu approached. The second he entered he was greeted with disapproving stares, curled lips, and avoided eye contact at the sight of his cloak. Yup, Hidan was here. Without interrupting anyone Kakuzu discretely started asking around to see if anyone had seen Hidan. Most had, but none knew where he was now. Apparently, and not surprisingly, Hidan had drunkenly stumbled in a while ago quipping about everyone in the church being a bunch of naughty sinners, and something about Jashin reaping their souls. As he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, some one got his attention. Turning around he found an older man sitting in a chair by the wall with a leg crossed over his other knee while he read what appeared to be the newspaper.

“You might want to check a few blocks over.” He advised as he stuck his thumb in the left direction, then went back to his reading. Kakuzu gave a curt nod, and left down the street.

He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, but the second a large boarding house came into sight he knew what it was. The brightly colored signs in every window, the sound of music coming from the inside. The sounds of clicking of heels, and feminine giggling. The loud obnoxious male voices from inside yelling cat calls, and drunken cackling. These were all the signs and sounds of wasted money. There was no doubt that hidan was in there.

“...Oh goddammit…” He growled, then begrudgingly approached the stripp club, and probable cat house in search of his idiot of a partner.

* * *

“So you’ve cast off the brace, huh?” Enik asked, though with her melancholy tone it sounded more like an empty statement. She paused, then added, “No pun intended.”

“You noticed huh? Heheh, yeah.” Kisame responded with a cocky grin. Not even Enik’s depressingness could put a damper on his attitude. His healing was at long last starting to show and he was feeling invincible.

“Yeah, though the fact that you stopped using the crutches kind of overshadows it.” She pointed out causing Kisame's grin to widen even further.

“Heheh, it feels pretty great you know? Not being so restricted all the time? I’m still a little stiff, so it’s not all that great, but hey, it’s better than nothin’ right?” Enik shrugged slightly in response.

“I guess.” Then something clicked in Kisame’s head, causing him to face palm.

“Wait, duh, you probably don’t know what I’m talking about.” She almost stopped walking, but proceeded on. Though, she was now looking up and facing him with a slightly perplexed blank expression.

“Don’t know what…? Kisame, you know what my occupation was don’t you?” She said, then muttered, “...What got me in this situation…”

“Occu-? Oh! Right, right, heh, I forgot about the whole small time hunter thing.” He had decided to disregard the latter comment she had muttered, but he didn’t miss her cringe a little when he said small time hunter. “I guess with a job like that you’d get some injuries every now and then no matter where you're from, right?”

Enik grimaced. “...You could say that…”

Being completely honest, Kisame hadn’t gotten all of the details pertaining to how the Akatsuki had acquired Enik. When he had been informed of her arrival and the circumstances he got the short blunt details about who she was and what had happened. Besides that he was more interested at the time about what had happened to Hidan than anything else. It was hilarious. So any details of her abilities or indications of how well she was at her job were very few and vague. The only thing he was really certain of was that the beating from Pein her first night was probably the worst beating she had received in her life, and that she was lying when she claimed to know about broken bones. But, being in such a great mood he decided not to call her on it.

Kisame continued making idle conversation with Enik until they had to part ways. Enik went to continue with her chores, and Kisame to track down some wild breakfast. The Journey was tough, but as he emerged onto the strange land known as “The Kitchen” his senses became overwhelmed, and he could see the land was plentiful with nutrients.

“Oh my God, Kazuma, did you go shopping? Whatever you're making smells awesome!” He half groaned as he took a whiff. Kazuma chuckled a little in response.

“Just porridge.” She said passing a bowl off to him. Using his recently liberated hand Kisame held the bowl and lifted a spoonful to his lips. She had prepared his bowl just the way he liked it. With milk, a dash of honey and brown sugar, though not enough to make it too sweet, and cinnemon’d to hell. He’d be lying if it was just great because it tasted great. As he gripped the spoon in his hand it seemed to taste just a little greater. Taking his breakfast into the next room to wait for the others to join breakfast, Kisame exited the strange land of kitchen with his prize from the hunt, only to fave new perils.

“Good morning Kisame!!” Tobi’s squeaky voice range out as Kisame was about to stake claim on the couch, causing him to flinch and his bowl of porridge splatter on the floor.

“Dammit Tobi!” Kisame cursed.

“Ohhh…” Tobi said with his hand over where his mouth should be on his mask. Realizing his error Tobi quickly decided he needed to fix that. “ZUMI~!”

“...Yeah?” Kazuma called from the kitchen.

“KISAME MADE A MESS!!”

“Tobi, what did you do?” She replied.

“Yeah, what do you mean I ma-?” Kisame started, but was cut off by Tobi frantically flicking his wrists around and trying to shush him.

“No, no, no, Kisame--I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING ZUMI!--Please don't say nothing!--IT JUST KIND OF HAPPENED!--I’ve already made two messes today--I DON'T KNOW HOW!--Please~!” Tobi begged in between loudly calling to Kazuma.

“Are you sure?” Kazuma sounded skeptical.

Tobi was frozen for a second, before diving on his knees and throwing his hands together in a begging position. Kisame simply rolled his eyes, and waved him off.

“My bad Kazuma, I’ve got it!” Kisame called. In a second Tobi went from on his knees, to launching himself up in the air with a triumphant fist thrusted above his head.

“THANK YOU!--Oh, uh, I mean thanks Kisame. SORRY ZUMI, THAT THANK YOU WAS FOR KISAME!!” Kisame merely rolled his eyes as Tobi broke his cover.

“Well clean it up anyways, I’m busy!”

“AWW!!” Tobi suddenly deflated. Where his energy comes from and goes to, Kisame will never know.

“It’s fine Kazuma, I said i got it.” Kisame called. Tobi straightened up and unless Kisame was mistaken, he looked hopeful, like a kid waiting to see if he was getting out of doing a chore or not.

“You sure?” Kazuma called.

“Yeah, I got it.” He confirmed as Tobi did, what could only be assumed as some kind of victory shimmy.

“Thanks Kisame!”

“Yeah, yeah, just go get me another bowl.” Ke dismissed. Tobi brought his hand to his forehead in salute, then darted out of the room.

Kisame shook his head, then looked down at the mess on the floor. Well, first things first. Kisame bent forward to pick up the fallen bowl, and grimaced at the intense soreness coming from his rib cage, then smirked a little. It was better than the agonizing pain he felt several weeks ago whenever he so much as moved his torso. This was just more proof of it. He was getting better. With his smirk plastered across his face he entered the kitchen to dispose of the bowl and get a rag to start cleaning up the mess.

* * *

Kakuzu’s eyes glared darkly in the dimmed light of the whorehouse. He shuddered as he passed countless drunken lustful fools throwing away their money on overpriced women wearing too much makeup and not enough clothing. He was traveling through the forsaken land looking for an the idiot with his cash. He felt sickened just being in there. He only passed a few men so far, the time still being moderately early in the day, and already it felt like too many. A few women had seen Kakuzu and started to approach him, though the second they met his icy gaze and intimidating height, each and every one walked passed him and acted as if they were never approaching him in the first place. He saw a few women luring “clients” upstairs for a session and felt as though he was getting close.

Then he heard it. That stupid obnoxious cackle that spiked his anger. The temperature in the air around him must’ve dropped some with how cold blooded he felt in that moment. Turning, he spotted him. Near the back in a dark booth lit only by the dim neon lights from above. He was cackling loudly with seven different girls hanging off of, and tending to him all around. As he sauntered over a few of the girls on the outer edge of the booth caught onto his frightening iron stare and discretely ducked away to go find something else to do. The two girls standing near, but not actually the booth, bringing platters of alcohol, spun on their heels and went somewhere else. Last to notice Kakuzu were the three girls closest to Hidan. Two sitting to the left of him, one to the right, his arms resting on all three. The final three were forcing laughter at whatever pigheaded thing Hidan said, and if Kakuzu wasn’t so pissed he would’ve taken a moment to admire the acting skills these women had to use on a regular basis.

Kakuzu was now standing only ten feet away. One of the girls finally noticed him and went ridged. She sent a look to the other other two and they looked up as well. Knowing looks passed between the them. Working in a place like this it wasn’t unusual for shady characters to come in bringing trouble with them. To them Kakuzu was just another dangerous character bringing in a fight, and being near Hidan was putting them in danger. They looked as though they were going to bolt. Hidan finally noticed how tense they had become, and looked up. He smirked when he saw the storm clouds surrounding his partner. A moment of silence passed between them, Kakuzu glaring down at the thief, and Hidan challenging the miser. One of the girls feeling very uncomfortable, and unsafe, made to rise and walk away, but Hidan was faster and put firm hand over her shoulder, forcing her, and the other three to stay put.

“Easy girls, you’re fine.” Hidan stated without taking his eyes from Kakuzu. “Morning Kakuzu.”

Kakuzu didn’t return the greeting. He was seething in a stiff statue like silence using all of his self control not lung at the jashinist in front of him. The girls were frightened enough, and he could feel the eyes of every other unoccupied “entertainer” in the joint looking at him and waiting to see his next move. Anticipating him to initiate a fight. Though Kakuzu had noticed the lack of bouncers that most places like this usually had, he still felt no need to cause a scene. If he really felt the need he would drag Hidan outside, but he knew a fight inside would quickly escalate to panicked chaos. And he wasn’t going to go through that again after the last time he fought Hidan in a stripp club.

“You wasted no time sniffing this place out.” He finally commented. Hidan shrugged casually.

“Had to get here for the early bird special.”

“Early bird special?” Kakuzu looked past him to the far left wall where a chalk board had their specials listed like a small food stand listed what food you could buy.

“Do you mean the ‘Morningwood Special’?” Kakuzu asked in a condescending tone, while Hidan just snickered to himself. Though they didn’t seem to be acting hostile with each other, the tension between them was making the three girls fearful. Finally after another moment of uncomfortable silence Kakuzu asks.

“How much?”

“Whattaya mean?” Hidan asks as if he doesn’t know. Kakuzu’s eyes narrow.

“How. Much.”  Kakuzu repeats.

“How much alcohol? How much tail--ACH!!” Hidan started as Kakuzu extended his arm via chakra threads, and clamped his grip on Hidan's throat. One of the girls made a noise that sounded somewhere around a panicked squeal.

“Don’t play coy with me Hidan, How much of my money did you spend?”

Hidan managed to let out a gargled chuckle. Taking his sweet time, he dug around in his pocket to present a wad of cash half its original size. In a second Kakuzu retracted his arm bringing Hidan's face straight into Kakuzu’s free hand in the form of a fist, earning a loud smack that echoed through the already loud cat house. The three girls were frozen in the booth. They weren’t sure if they should move, let alone take the chance to leave. As Kakuzu started to count his money, and Hidan to his chance to regain himself after that punch, he started to calm down a little. He was honestly expecting Hidan to have spent more. Looks like he only used the smaller bills. With an irritated sigh he tucked his money into his pocket.

“I guess it could’ve been worse.” he stated, mainly as an attempt to calm himself down more. He was still mad, but it had simmered down to mere annoyance.

“Fuck no! Do I look like a dumbass to you?”

“-Yes.”

“Shut the hell up! The fucking point is, I’m not. I know what I’m doing--”

“Since you ran up an unpaid tab everywhere else, I take it you spent everything here?” Kakuzu cut off. Hidan got one of his stupid perverted looking idiotic grins.

“Heheh, oh you know...If you don’t have the cash, you don’t get the ass.” That earned an annoyed groan from Kakuzu as Hidan laughed at his own joke, then walked back over, and sat with the girls again, and gave an empty half assed attempt to console them so they’d calm down. Which just ended up making him look like an ass, as Kakuzu glared holes in Hidan's head. Hidan finally got annoyed by this and growled.

“Tell you what, I’ve still got a few...Specials that’ve already been paid for, but haven’t been cashed yet.” Kakuzu knit his brows together at Hidan's world.

“Why don’t you go pick out your favorite and cash something in. Because that’s just how much of a generous fucker I am.” Hidan continued. Generous my ass. And cash something in? what’s he think this is an arcade? Kakuzu rolled his eyes and instead made his way over to the open bar on the other side of the room. He hadn’t missed the looks of apprehension the three girls gave each other after Hidan's comment. He chuckled a little as he sat on a stool, and beckoned the bartender over. He asked for some sake from the young brunette bartender with dark eyes that burned everything in their path with scorn. After receiving his drink he watched as the tall woman left to go serve someone else. His money was already spent here and he wasn’t getting it back, he may as well get something out of it he thought as he finished his glass and asked for another.

* * *

Through the halls of the far end of the base one sound above the rest stood out. The sound of a door opening. But not just any old door, in the base that had many. This door in particular was off limits, except to the sole person who dwelled behind the door. And in this case, said person was emerging from behind said door. Careful to shut the door, Sasori descended through the halls of the base in search of Zetsu. He’d noticed he had been slightly leaning to the right since he attached the second left foot. To make matters worse he’d spent most the last days looking for a block of wood so he could make another right foot, which he thought he still had stock of, only to find that the specific lumber he crafted his body from was nowhere to be found.

So here he was, leaving his domain behind in search of Zetsu, in hopes that the cannibal would do him the favor of locating a sturdy cherry tree for his stock. Now the problem is always: Where is Zetsu? Sasori thought as he looked through the base. It never seemed like he did much in his day, but theres never any telling where he could be, or if he’s even in the base. Sometimes he’s in his room, sometimes he’s off somewhere getting “dinner”, but more often than not, you had a better chance at running into him randomly somewhere in the base. So that was exactly what he was doing, wandering the base at random, just waiting to find the plant beast. Wandering through the halls he passed both Kazuma, and Tobi many times. He got curious, eventually he had to ask.

“What have you been doing?” He spoke aloud. Kazuma stopped, and looked back over her shoulder to Sasori. Her mouth scrunched to the side.

“Tobi and I are looking for Enik.”

“Why?” He asked, not really caring for the answer. Kazuma shrugged.

“She always disappears a little after lunch. No one seems to know where she goes to.”

“Has she been skipping chores?” Sasori questioned with distaste. Enik hadn’t caused any trouble that he had heard, but if she was getting a little too comfortable and forgetting her place, skipping chores, then perhaps she needed to be reminded who her superiors were. And what they were capable of. Kazuma noticing Sasoris glare, quickly started flicking her hand about in dismissal.

“No, no, she finishes her chores. We just want to know where she goes to. She never reports back, or is even seen of until dinner comes along.” Sasori raised an eyebrow.

“So...Is this an issue?”

“Well, no. Not necessarily, but if she’s finishing her chores and has time to do who knows what for the rest of the day…”

“You think she’s avoiding having more work then?” Kazuma shrugged.

“I’d just feel better at least knowing where she could be found if we do need to find her in those hours of the day.”

“Have you tried asking her?” Sasori asked with a raised brow.

“Yeah, she just shruggs, and doesn’t answer.”

“So be more stern.” Sasori states as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. Kazuma merely sighs and looks away from him.

“What is it?” He asked.

“It’s just that she’s my roommate, but I want her to actually like me, and be my friend, but she hardly even talks at all. I thought we had made progress, but the last couple of days she’s just been more distant, and I don’t know what happened, and I would be more stern about it Sasori, I would, but…”

“You're to nice to press her about anything, because you want her to like you?” Sasori finished. Kazuma grimaced. Rolling his eyes Sasori reached out and rustled her hair as if she was a kid. Kazuma didn’t look all to happy about that, but didn’t protest none the less.

“Well, good luck with that I suppose…” Sasori said as he walked passed her to continue his Zetsu hunt.  Why does it matter if her roommate likes her, or not? I’m stuck with Deidara on missions half the time, and I hate him. Sasori pondered as he went. He made a few more turns before he was stopped by Pein.

“Good afternoon Sasori.” Hmm...He means business…

“...Afternoon leader.” Sasori greeted cautiously.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where Enik is would you?” Pein asked. Well somebody’s popular right now.

“No, but go catch up with Kazuma and Tobi. They’ve got a club with matching jackets.”

“Ugh...Well, if you see her send her to my study.” He half snarled in agitation, then continued off to somewhere in the base. Possibly to go speak with Kazuma, and Tobi. Who really knows.

But, another question is, who really cares. Sasori didn’t, do he went on his merry way trying to find the bases blood-thirsty-checker-boarded-plant-man, known as Zetsu, and these interruptions were starting to get on his nerves. Where the hell is Zetsu anyways? He’s pretty much the eyes and ears of this place, why hadn’t he figured out Sasori was looking for him yet? All he needed was for Zetsu to find a tree. That is all. If he brought some wood back to the base that’d be great, but all he really needed was the location of the closest cherry tree so that he could go and get what he needed himself.  

He was still in the middle of scolding himself for letting himself run out of his stock, when he saw yet another figure of a person going into the living room. Right as he entered the room, he immediately saw someone he had been avoiding for the last few days, lest he be barraged with more two left foot jokes. He was about to spin on his heels and make a hasty retreat, when someone seemed to appear out of nowhere and stand directly in front of him. If the short puppeteer was anymore human, he might’ve been startled by Zetsu’s sudden appearance. Instead, he became distracted by what he saw behind Zetsu.

“You’ve been looking for me Sasori?” Zetsu asked. Well, stated. But Sasori, wasn’t really paying attention.

“Um, yeah...Could you just stay here for a second? I’ve gotta...take care of something…” Sasori said as he walked passed Zetsu and approached Kisame.

He hadn’t noticed it when he first entered the room. Kisame was over talking with Itachi, proudly displaying his un-casted wrist. With a look of seething irritation Sasori cut into to whatever it was they were talking about.

“Itachi, can I talk with Kisame for a moment?” He asked curtly. Itachi looked as though he was going to protest, but Sasori beat him to it with a rude beat it. The two of them stood glaring at each others before Itachi, with a curled lip at Sasori’s rudeness, nodded and walked away. Leaving Sasori with a very uncomfortable Kisame.

“Uh...What’s up Sasor-”

“What is this?”

“Um, what is what?” Kisame asked with an uncomfortable chuckle.

“What is this?” Sasori asked pointing to Kisame's recently liberated wrist.

“Um, my arm?”

“And why isn’t it in it’s brace?” Sasori asked with a dangerous look in his eye. Kisame let out an exasperated sigh.

“I took it off, it doesn’t need the brace anymore.”

“And who gave you the right to judge that, exactly?” Sasori asked as he took Kisame's arm into his grasp, and started feeling along it. Kisame gave an annoyed huff, but didn’t respond or pull his arm away. Sasori’s glare softened when he felt that it was mended enough to be free of a brace. But just barley.

“I guess it’s alright...but don’t strain it.” He said sharply.

“What’s your problem Sasori?! You said yourself my arms fine, so why are you being so damn snippy all of a sudden?!” Kisame snapped. Sasori’s lip curled as he spoke in a dangerously quiet tone.

“My problem is that you're already trying to do things before you're ready too. And need I remind you that when someone starts playing things loose they get careless, and it can cost them greatly.”

“...” A silence passed between the two of them.

“Just-...Don’t start getting cocky this early. You have your limits, remember that...I have to got talk with Zetsu now…” Sasori said before turning and walking back over to where the giant plant was patiently waiting.

“What was that all about?” Itachi asked when he came back.

“Nothing. I’ll tell you later.” He stated. Nothing like getting chewed out by your doctor to mess up a good day.


	7. Fragile Bonds

Enik wiped the condensing sweat from her forehead. She’d been on her hands and knees for the last forty minutes scrubbing the floor in the east hallways of the base. The regular mop wasn’t doing the job, so Enik was now stuck with the job of scrubbing off all the dirt by hand with a small hand brush. Ugh...I’m never gonna get finished. She thought bitterly. There wasn’t a chance in hell that she’d be finished with this before she usually finished her chores and slithered off to the abandoned parts of the base. Usually after lunch she’d sneak off and either relax in that bunker she had found, or try to find an exit. Unfortunately, judging by the fact that she was still stuck here, scrubbing the floor, she hadn’t been able to find anything. So far all she had found were dead ends, empty rooms, a shit ton of locked doors...and more halls. It wasn’t easy either. Pushing boundaries of where she had gone before and where she hadn’t, without getting lost again was tricky enough, without all the hallways looking the same. When the time would come to call it a day, she’d crawl back to everyone else, tail tucked between her legs from not finding anything, and resurface around dinner.

As of the last few weeks however, Enik’s daily search time, had been shortened. Some days she wasn’t able to shake Tobi, so she had to skip her chill time, and find something else to do. If she happened to run into Kazuma she’d end up with a few more chores. But most days when she couldn’t sneak off, she took refuge in Kakuzu’s room, once he and Hidan had returned that is. For some reason Kakuzu didn’t really want to talk about the events that had taken place over the span of their mission, he continually brushed the question off by claiming that nothing had happened. Normally Enik wouldn’t care what went on with anyone, but the fact that Kakuzu is continually going out of his way to avoid the subject, was making her curious.

Besides all that, she now has to attend a weekly “therapy” session every thursday, courtesy of the Akatsuki’s leader, Pein. Apparently, something about Enik’s attitude was making them worried about her mental state. Not worried for her so much, worried about what she might do. Enik thought bitterly with a curled lip. Typical… The first two sessions got nowhere. It was just like back in the interrogation her first night. But, without any violence. Pein went at it for about an hour each time asking personal, and psychological questions trying to break the ice, and move things along so that there could soon be a breakthrough hopefully soon in the upcoming future. And Enik was giving him a hell of a time with all of it, that’s for sure. She was still wary around the leader of the Akatsuki, so there wasn’t a chance in hell she was going to be opening up and letting him play therapist anytime soon. Though, she’d be lying if she said her mental process was the same as everyone else. She figured that out at an early age.

Currently, Enik was crouched over a particularly stubborn blemish over the floor with a concentrated snarl that would make people think she was a wild animal trying to scare them away from it’s kill. Seriously, what the hell even is this? She wasn’t sure if it was and oil stain, or blood, or just some type of corrosion that came about through the years, but it wasn’t coming off. with a pout she slumped back with her arms by her side and looked over her shoulder to the bucket of soiled soapy water and bottled cleaning concoctions sitting on the floor to the left of her. With a heavy sigh she stood, tossed her scrub brush into the bucket, and began walking to get more toxic chemicals. She may not like doing chores, but she was stubborn when it came to finishing a task done right, and what she had to work with just wasn’t cutting it. She needed something stronger.

In a few moments she found herself digging through the closet across from Hidan’s room looking for supplies. Looking up at a seventy degree angle Enik glared up at the large box of cleaning supplies above her head. I seriously gotta talk to Kazuma about getting me a stepping stool or something, cuz this is starting to get embarrassing… Enik thought as she reached up and tried to slide the box off the shelf with some difficult. We’re not all six and a half feet tall. Just as Enik got the back end of the box off the edge of the shelf, shit hit the fan and she ended up losing her balance and the contents of the box ended up on the floor everywhere.

“Ah, son of a-! Why?!” Enik exclaimed as she took out her fate coin from her pocket. She held it in one hand and pointed at it accusingly with the other, all with a menacing look on her face and in a low voice said, “Screw. You.”

Sasori just happened to be walking by when her little calamity hit, and witnessed her strange standoff with the coin. Instead of getting confused he decided just to disregard it and not care.

“You're a little weird Enik.” He stated as he walked by, kicking cleaning supplies out of his was.

“Thank you, Sasori!” She exclaimed with an irritated growl. Then she heard him mutter something to himself about women. She simmered down a little bit and rolled her eyes to his comment.

Enik gave a single flip of her coin and shoved it into her pocket, then crouched onto the floor to gather up the scattered supplies. Yup, she still hung onto that coin. It hadn’t just become a good luck charm, but a symbol of fate itself. It might be a little silly, but that didn’t matter to Enik. She always kept it on her since she found it, and occasionally gave it a flip for good luck. Clouded by annoyance and focus Enik hardly noticed when someone else came walking through the hallway, that is, until she received a swift kick to the gut. With a compressed groan Enik collapsed on the floor and curled in on her side. As she rolled over she saw Hidan walking away as if nothing was done. Her lip curled as she heard him snickering to himself.

“Yeah, laugh it up douchebag!” Enik shouted at him once she got her breath back.

“...I am going to put sooo much floor wax outside your door…” She said darkly to herself. But first, I must clean a different floor. Enik thought as she finally packed up the box, shoved it haphazardly in the closet and left to go tend to the stain on the floor with arms full of bleach, ammonia, lye, steel wool, some floor wax and sand paper, because now that she thought about it, that floor wasn’t getting out of this jam unscathed and she needed to cover up the remains when she was done. On her way there she ended up passing Itachi and Deidara. Deciding it was good to get over how uncomfortable around each other they were, lately Itachi had been acknowledging Enik’s presence with simple hello’s every now and then.

“Hello Enik. What are you doing this morning?” He asked as they passed. Deidara just rolled his eyes with dismay.

“I’m off to vanquish a foe that has challenged me with it’s presence.” She said in the same dry way someone might say ‘Nothin’ much. Both men halted, looked at each other then over their shoulders as Enik continued to walk through the hall without a single glance.

“...What the hell does that mean, un?” Deidara asked. Itachi only stayed silent. He had no words. Only confusion.

* * *

“Come on Kakuzu!” Tobi whined. “What happened?”

“No! Tobi.” Kakuzu said sternly. Anyone else would’ve taken the danger in his voice as a clear warning, but alas Tobi wasn’t a part of the population known as anyone. He was off on an island known as nosy numbero uno. Population him. Ever since he and Hidan had returned from their mission and everyone soon found out that he didn’t want to talk about it, it seemed like everywhere he went there Tobi was. Preparing to pester him to the point of insanity.

“Come on Kakuzu, just tell Tobi already! I got Deidara sempai to tell me about the dog!”

“Dog? What d-”

“-So sooner or later I’ll find out what happened.” He said in a sly matter of fact tone. Kakuzu glared down at the...Man? Boy? He couldn’t really tell at times with the way he acted. Deciding he was done with this, he turned away with so much power, Tobi felt a gust of wind come off of him. Tobi tried to follow him close in foot, but that ended abruptly with a door being slammed in his face.

“Dang!” Tobi said as he crossed his arms like a pouting child.

“Oh, well!” He perked up. “I’ll just have to try again later!”

Tobi pranced down the halls in this giddy way he had for quite a while before else happened. As he went about his business he found Itachi, and Deidara waltzing through the hallway. A devilish smile crept under his mask as he silently approached his senpai. When he was a hummingbirds wingspan away he let loose a loud RuffRuffRuffRuffRuff! that almost perfectly mimicked the sound of a dog frantically barking. Startled, Deidara jumped forward several feet, as Itachi, who had sensed Tobi’s presence much sooner stood in a silent confusion for the second time that hour.

“TOBI GODDAMMIT!!!!!” Deidara bellowed once he realized what had happened as the masked idiot took off chuckling through the halls. Seconds later the chase was on, and Itachi was left hanging where he stood.

“TOBI!!!” Tobi heard Deidara scream behind him. He chuckled with excitement when he heard that he Deidara was getting closer. Okay, now it’s getting dangerous. He thought with some apprehension. One more turn and he could reach some safety. As fast as he could, he went around the corner and ducked into the entrance of the kitchen a froze. Waiting.

“TOBI!!” Deidara bellowed as he got closer. Tobi stood very still and held his breath, listening to the steps as Deidara drew closer and closer. Three...Two...One…

“Tobi!!” He yelled and ran right past the kitchen and down the hall. Tobi doubled over trying not to laugh, though a few chuckles escaped his mask.

“What was that all about?” Tobi looked up to see Enik trying and failing to eat her lunch of ramen. She really had no control with chopsticks. Tobi snickered and walked over to the table to join her.

“Woof woof!” He yipped silently. Enik chuckled.

“Haha, classic…” Ever since he had found out about Deidara and Sasori’s run in with that dog, Tobi had taken every chance he could to sneak up behind Deidara and yip like a dog, causing him to go into a panicked stupor for about thirty seconds. Works every time. The immediate danger having passed, Tobi crossed the room to join her. After watching her struggle for a little while he started to chuckle. Enik rolled her eyes.

“What?” She asked.

“Pfffftt~!! Enie really stinks with those!” Tobi beamed.

“I do not.”

“Tobi can smell it and it stinks!” Tobi said flicking his hand around, as if he could smell anything other than his mask. After taking half successful bite, she stuck her chopsticks into her bowl, then with her elbows on the table raised her hands in the air as if to say: Gimme a break.

“S’not my fault! I’m used to forks and stuff, I never had to use these things in my life. I never even used them at restaurants. I never really even ate at restaurants.” She justified.

“Hehe~ Okay! Okay! Why not ask Zumi if she can buy some in town?” Tobi asked. Enik just started wrestling with her noodles again.

“Yeah, I’ll put that on my list of requests. Right after I ask for my freedom back.” There was a slight smirk on her face, but Tobi didn’t quite think it was that funny. After their little experience on the closet, Tobi had made a crack in her outer wall. Ever since he had been chipping away at it and gradually a small bond had formed. It wasn’t much, but he supposed with being trapped against her will she needed some form of friendship with someone. Though he wouldn’t go quite so far to call what they had friendship, with his friendly interactions he knew he was growing on her by the day, and to keep her mental state sane she needed it.

Even so, he had started to break through her rough exterior and found a jagged interior. She had a bit of a dark dry sense of humor, and though he knew she was joking, he didn’t like when she made those comments every now and then. He knew it lightened her mood, and was a sign that she was at least slightly more comfortable around her than she was with the others, but it still just reminded him that she wasn’t happy and didn’t want to be here. Why would she be? She had every right to be upset with her situation, but Enik had started to grow on him as well. And each comment was another slap in the face, and felt like friendly advances were being rejected. Enik, though she couldn’t see his face, picked up on how humorless Tobi found her comment.

“I haven’t even asked Pein for my extra clothes yet.” She followed up with. Tobi cocked his head to the side.

“You...haven’t?” Enik raised a brow.

“You haven’t noticed that I’ve literally been wearing the same outfit since I got here?” Tobi hadn’t been paying a lot of attention. He decided to skip that Q and A and jump straight to the point.

“So...Enie’s been wearing the same clothing all month…?” He asked. Enik once again rolled her eyes.

“It’s not like I’ve just been wearing it straight. Thanks to Kazuma’s compulsive need to clean everything, they get washed just about every time I take a shower.”

“...Why hasn’t Enie ask leader for her clothes?” Tobi asked with the innocence of a small child. Enik just shrugged. She wouldn’t admit it, but Tobi pretty much assumed it was because she was intimidated by Pein. He was about to say something when Kazuma stomped in and went straight to the kitchen. Uh oh…

“What’s wrong Zumi…?” Tobi asked. Kazuma popped her head out from the fridge, slammed a carton of milk on the counter and with the flick of her wrist shut the fridge in the dainty yet terrifying way only a woman can slam something without breaking anything but still fill the room with silence and malice. Oh no no no…! Kazuma groaned.

“Ugh! Something happened in the east third corridor, and now the floor’s all scratched to hell! Sasori won’t spare the wood or the lacquer or anything, and now I have to try to make a trip into town tomorrow instead of saturday, and that’s just going to set my entire freaking week off!” She seethed in agitation. Oh boy she’s cursing...sort of. She only does that when something’s really wound her up. I thought with fear. Kazuma’s always so nice and sweet, but when upset it’s like she’d gone from a friendly mountain to a raging volcano. No one is safe. While Tobi shrunk with fear, out the side of his mask’s eye hole he noticed Enik, oblivious to the possible catastrophe ahead, who appeared to be thinking something out. Oh no don’t tell me…

“Wait...I was there earlier, and I didn’t see anything.” No my little Enie be quiet. Kazuma became very still.

“...Weren’t you supposed to be cleaning the floor in there?”

“Yeah, I did clean it.” Enik stated. Now Kazuma’s rage had been released.

“Oh my-! So you’re the one who messed up my floor!!” Kazuma pointed an accusing finger. Enik put her hands up in defense.

“Whoa, whoa, I didn’t fuck up the floor.” She said with enough apathy to diffuse any situation-except this one. No, it seemed to only fuel Kazuma’s quickly spreading wildfire.

“Oh, so that huge jagged dent in the floor just magically spouted from the floor today?”

“-Well if it’s a dent Tobi, don’t think it could spou-”

“Tobi, stay out of it!” Kazuma barked. Wha-? No! Don’t be mad at Tobi!!

“Hey, chill out Kazuma.” Enik said, getting a little annoyed that Kazuma would bark at Tobi like that, when he hadn’t done anything.

“Don’t tell me to chill out! Do you even have any idea how screwed up my schedule for the week is? Do you?”

“Hey, don’t take that tone of voi-”

“-No I guess you don’t know, because you don’t care about anything that goes on here. Or anyone.” Oh no, she’s venting out her frustrations! Tobi stared in silent horror at the scene in front of him. Now Enik had lost her calm apathetic demeanor. That, had crossed the line now she was just being unfair.

“I don’t care? Why the flying fuck would I care about what’s going on here!! I don’t even want to be here! For all I care you can all rot in hell!!” Enik yelled back. Oh my… Kazuma sneered.

“Oh you are being so unethical, since you got here you’ve been treated so wel-”

“I’m being unethical? You’re the one who barged in here and started yelling at us like some crazed estrogen filled psychopath!”

“Please don’t drag Tobi into-”

“Stay out of it!!” The two of them hollered, causing Tobi to shrink further into his seat in terror.

“You know what you're problem is?  You have no respect for how things are ran around here, or how good you have it! You're supposed to be making things easier, and what do you do? A shotty job at everything, you have the obedience of a donkey, and you fill every room you go into with gloom and despair!”

“Obedience?! I’ve done everything I’ve been told to do since I got here and haven’t said a fuckin’ thing! And if you want to talk about how good I have it here, why don’tcha go talk to your buddy Hidan, and have a nice long conversation!!”

“You're darn right you don’t say anything! It’s like a ghost haunts these halls!”

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Yeah, coming from the busy body! Clean this! Freakin’ clean that! Oh no I have to have everything perfect for these kidnapping sons of bitches!! Miss can’t even sit down for five seconds cuz i’m so goddamn tall I have to dress like a kinky maid!”

“What?”

“Fuck you, you know what I meant!!”

It went on like this getting more heated with every comment by the second for another fifteen minutes. For Tobi it felt like an eternity, and he was too terrified to move from his chair or leave. It was like watching an earthquake set off a tsunami and a volcano at the same time. Then almost all at once everything cooled down. Not in the sense that neither was angered anymore, but that they were done yelling at each other at the moment. Tobi looked back and forth between the two, both seething in rage. FInally Kazuma turned back towards the kitchen and started to rummage through the pantry as Enik cleared her bowl and made to leave the kitchen to who knows where.

“Who ate the last instant ramen?!” Kazuma yelled, clearly still riled up. Enik sharply turned back on her heals.

“I did! And I wasn’t even that hungry! I just wanted an excuse to take a break from fucking up your floor!!!” Enik bellowed. And having had the last word, if a little immature, retreated from the room in an angry strut. Kazuma slammed the pantry shut. equally as immature, and followed in suit, but going in the other direction. Tobi remained frozen where he was for several minutes in his chair.

“Tobi almost wet his pants…” He said, then realized something that could complicate things. Oh dear god they share a room-!

Down the hall Tobi vaguely heard Hidan ask, what the fuck’s with you? Only for a split second later too hear Enik yell, “Not fucking now Hidan!” A few seconds later Hidan entered the room with an utterly shocked expression on his face.

“Whooooooaa…!” He said to himself as he grabbed a snack from the pantry and left without another word, to where Tobi assumed was his room. A few minute’s later Tobi heard a loud thunk followed by a stream of cussing.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THE FLOOR?!?” Not even that circumstance roused Tobi from his seat.

It went on like this for another week. The two of them could barely stay in the same room with each other. They’d be fine, but the second one entered a room the other already had occupied, the whole room grew icy with tension. They’d both act like neither had seen the other, but the sour indignant looks they shot each other were enough to tell neither of them were over it. It’d usually start with Kazuma entering a room Enik was already in. Nothing to bad. A few sneers and avoided glances from Enik, a pout and a few passive aggressive comments to someone else, yet directed at Enik from Kazuma, some angered grumbling from Enik, and either Kazuma would do what she had needed and leave, or Enik would have enough, and plainly leave the room. Generally if it was Enik about to enter a room Kazuma was in, she’d simply turn around the second she realized this without a word to anyone and leave. Twice things got out of hand and the two of them had started up another terrifying vernal fight. The first time Enik had gotten called into Pein’s office and received a very long eerie lecture. Tobi didn’t know what he said, but after an hour she was allowed to leave and looked rather deflated and hollow.

This little dispute was taking it’s toll. Kazuma wasn’t really one to get angry or hold grudges, yet she continued to battle it out. Tobi knew she was feeling bad about it, and wanted to end the fight but couldn’t quite bring herself to. It seemed every time she tried to resolve things, she’d get upset again from Enik’s responses or apathy and start up another fight, or Enik would disappear before a thing could be said. To make ending this feud harder, Enik hadn’t even been sleeping in Kazuma’s room. No one was sure, or particularly interested, in where it was she had been sleeping, but it was a little concerning for Tobi.  Enik had become sullen again, Kazuma was losing her mind, and whether they knew it or not, Tobi was caught up in the middle of it. on one hand he  wanted to gain some brownie points and talk to Enik about it, and maybe get her to try and fix things, but on the other hand talking with Enik might upset Kazuma...And Tobi wouldn’t risk his relationship with her for anything.

* * *

The fight was taking it’s toll on Enik more than she had anticipated. She was hot headed at times, occasionally impulsive, and not very social. You cook that up, and what you get is someone who’s never had to deal with a heated disagreement like this. At least not like this, or for this long. Generally whenever something like this happens it’s easy just to cut that person out of her life all together. That simple, don’t talk to them, don’t acknowledge them, just go about your life like nothing ever happened and you never met each other. Never had anyone she was particularly close to or fond of that she had a big disagreement with anyways. Neither she, nor the person she was cutting out had any kind of life changing alter from never interacting with each other again.

This was different however. Avoiding someone with whom you have numerous encounters with from day to day was difficult. She had spent a lot of time in her hole in the wall bunker, but sleeping there every night ran the risk of someone finding it, if they didn’t already know of it’s existence...Besides that it’s dusty as hell in there. She wasn’t even mad anymore, she just got a little caught up in the moment, and doesn’t really know what to do now. Usually even if she did run into those people, either they would avoid her, given her complacent not giving two fuck’s, or there had been enough time for both of them to simmer down and realize it didn’t really matter. No grudge, no friendship, just a passing nod of each others acknowledgment. But this…? Being forced to be around someone you don’t want to be around was hard when you’ve had no practice, and even harder when you feel like you have to mend it...And that was something she seldom had to do. The only person she got in fights with and still stayed close to was her brother, and neither could stay mad at each other for very long, so that didn’t help.

Suddenly finding herself zoning out and thinking of her brother, Enik snapped out of it. There’s a time and a place for nostalgia, and an underground hostage maid takeover with criminals was neither of those...With a sigh Enik got up from the grungy mattress that lied in the dank bunker. Now’s as good a time as any. Exiting the room with the can of spray paint, Enik started padding through the hallways and corridors to continue her scouting trip. Nothing out of the usual, just several empty rooms, a few so dark and dusty she didn’t bother going in, and an occasional locked door. By giving a soft knock, yes she had been practicing, on the door she was starting to get an ear for deducing the sized and how full the room was. This was just a guess of course, since Enik couldn’t actually see what was behind the doors, but she could hear small varieties in the sounds of some doors, and that at least gave her some ease to let her mind wander.

Enik reached out and tried to open a thick metal door. The knob squeaked like a tortured mouse, but didn’t let her enter. Using what she had learned about Sasori’s door, she knocked softly. Enik shifted her weight between her two feet. Odd. This sound was...different. Another, much louder string of knocking echoed quietly on the other side of the door. What’s back there? A small spark of hope blazed up and burned inside Enik as the thought of an exit came to mind. She couldn’t deny her hope of finding one soon was fleeting, but this was like a starving homeless guy finding a wad of cash in the ground. It brought out the more primitive side of a person. Despite knowing that the door was lock, Enik tried turning and jiggling it this way and that; hoping it would work for her and come off it’s hinges and she’d be met with the blinding beautiful light of the sun and run straight into the open air and make it all the way home to her islands so she could put this chapter behind her and as with much of her childhood pretend it never happened, or something spectacular like that. But no such miracles happened. In the end, Enik was stuck there with a heavy door, that would take a missile launcher to take down, locked.

Enik leaned up against the cold metal door, and landed her fist on it. Just like everything else in this place. Cold. Then she kicked it nice and hard for good measure. But mostly she kicked herself a little for letting herself get excited. Nothing about that charade of a fantasy was logical in the least. There’s no hero that’ll come in with an army. There’s no ferry that’ll take me back home. There are no above average happy endings. This is real life not some saturday morning adventure show. The only miracles in life are the ones you make happen yourself.

On that note, Enik gave the door one final tap, straightened up, and went back down the hall the way she had come. It may not have been a very good pep thought, she didn’t leave in a ray of sunshine like in a sitcom, but it did the job. Back to plan A: Find my brother’s goddamn sawed off.  

* * *

Pein scrawled away on the scroll lying on his desk in front of him. He’d been crunching numbers and looking into possible missions all night. What else was the reanimated corpse supposed to do when he felt distressed but focus on the purpose for reawakening, and bury himself in his work. Yes, the artificial life of a possessed former corpse was not an easy one to live. If you’re mind was not kept occupied; it was easy to think of the exact things you don’t wish too. How fragile life is, the shadows of your former life, what you used to represent and what you do now, what you were reanimated for...And then you're reminded of your purpose and of course refocus on your work. This was difficult for Pein, his exact reason of distress is directly linked to his work.

Being a reanimate meant several differences between many. You feel colder, your purpose is more important than most things, and how you feel. Often what Pein noticed about himself the most was his lack of emotion, despite his former life. True, he was not Yahiko, nor would he ever be, but the shadows of his physical forms past remained. He was constantly reminded of the very true emotions that most feel, and understood them down to a tee. What was felt, what were the causes, what most would do while feeling such emotions, how to fix them, he knew them very well. He just didn’t feel them. Occasionally he would feel slight anger, distress, or on a bad day, excessive melancholy, but most of the time he felt nothing. Pein felt like a hollow shell, which by design, was his exact existence.

His usual cope, like with everything else, was to bury himself in his work. Or...Konan would pull him out of it. But Konan wasn’t present. She was on a mission he had ordered her on. Hadn’t made any contact since. And was taking far too long. For reasons he wasn’t sure of that was making him anxious. Had Yahiko felt this strongly for her? More so? Pein didn’t know. He was not Yahiko, he couldn’t remember. Even the rare good emotions were unpleasant. Why? because for him they were all too often short lived. They were nice while they lasted, but he was fully aware of what to much of a good thing can cause, especially with mental backlashes. He may be a manifestation of Nagato’s pain, but that didn’t always protect him from his own. Oh my, what Konan and I went through when she lost the-,

“You wanted to see me sir…?” Peins thoughts were interupted by Eniks sudden intrusion of his office. Pains brow furrowed menacingly.

“What have I said about entering without permission?” He asked. Enik looked startled for a moment, and hesitantly looked between Pein and the door, then finally settles on Pein with a shrug and look that said, and he could almost hear her exact words, What’s donn is done...I don’t know what you want me to do here. Pein signed, and waved her off while pinching the bridge of his nose.

“It doesn’t matter, come have a seat, and we’ll begin.” Pein instructed. Enik obliged by grabbing the small wooden chair residing in the far corner of the room and dragging it closer to Pein’s desk like she had done in other sessions, and sat in it promptly.

“Do you have an excuse for being late?”

“I, uh...forget…” Pein sighed.

“No you didn’t, you just didn’t want to attend.” He stated in a tired matter of fact tone. Enik’s gaze shot down, knowing better than to deny it once it was called. It was taking time, but it was starting to sink in with her that Pein was quite spot on with his judgments. Making excuses and lying would be pointless. “And I would prefer it if you wouldn’t lie next time.”

“Well, being truthful ain’t exactly the best way to go either.” She said crossing her arms and averting her sharp eyes from Pein’s. Pein took down notes of what she said and tried to give his best psychoanalysis of her mental state, just like the other therapy sessions. Enik proved to be difficult to analyze however, as she rarely gave away her emotions or revealing answers. emotional or otherwise. It was a bit distressing to find her unresponsive to her situation without any form of mental breakdown or venting.

“Why you bother asking questions you already know the answer to is beyond me…” She grumbled.

“Pardon?” Pein asked in a dangerous tone. Realizing what she had said, Enik’s eyes widened slightly.

“Oh! Uh, I apologized. I forgot my place…” Enik said carefully the way she had been trained over the last few weeks whenever she said something she shouldn’t. A few of the others may be lenient, or not particularly care what Enik said to herself, but Pein had a no tolerance policy. Speaking out of term without acknowledgement or an apology was unacceptable. But given Peins overall goal was to eventually gain her trust, she was lucky he was merciful enough to even allow that much freedom of speech. Any other situation, and he wouldn’t even give someone beneath the Akatsuki a chance to correct themselves for their imputance. However, given her lack of expression, it’s just another reason to let it slide. She was in dire need to vent like a normal human being, lest things get...for lack of better word difficult.

“Very well. Now, let’s begin. I noticed this disagreement between you and Kazuma, has yet to sort itself out. Need I remind you of my disdain to get involved?” He question. Enik shook her head.

“And you are aware that if this continues on much longer, my hand will be forced, and I will have to get in the middle of it.” Enik nodded.

“Good. Now, since we made no progress with our last session, why don’t we start where we last left off?” Enik remained unresponsive with her arms crossed and averted eye contact, so Pein continued.

“After speaking with Kazuma, I determined that due to her frustrations with the floor, this is what has been causing you to lash out?” Enik rolled her eyes a little.

Pein continued down the list questioning her about this and that; going back and forth between questions about the quarrel, and about her in general. What made her angry? Did her discomfort affect her mentally? Why was this fight so upsetting? Any past discrepancies? The list went on. To fully get a read on her, what he needed were responses, and all he could he was her stoic apathy and refusal to answer questions. To get her to open up, he needed to set up a therapeutic connection. He needed her to trust him, even on the smallest level. And he had an ideal for her to see it that way.

“How is the treatment you have been receiving from the other members of the Akatsuki?” No response.

“If there has been any form of unjustified mistreatment that I should be aware of I can guarantee it will not happen again. But I must be informed of it before I can do anything.”

Enik gave a humorless snort. That was enough of a response for Pein to determine she didn’t believe him. Whether it was because she didn’t believe he could, or would, he didn’t know. But, whether or not there were any issues, or whether or not he would give her protection depended entirely on her behavior. And her behavior did not have promising factors. Pein continued trying to rise a response out of her for another ten minutes. He was about to give up, but decided to use has best for last, deeming that it was a mandatory answer.

“Okay, I’ve had a report that you haven’t been slumbering in your room with Kazuma,” Enik grumbled, Dammit Tobi, under her breath in a disapproving tone. “-I’m not going to bother asking why you haven’t been, as it seems obvious why, but What I’m really concerned about is where you’ve been going. This is not a pass question Enik, you must answer.” Enik continued to avoid eye contact.

“Enik.” Her lip curled with indecisiveness.

“What’s it matter where I sleep? As long as I keep getting up and tending to whatever I’m ordered to it shouldn’t matter…” She spewed. Pein’s brow furrowed at her comments.

“As the leader of this organization and the only thing between this easy subordination and torturous death-,”

“See that’s exactly it!” Enik stood abruptly from her chair, nearly knocking it over as she started to pace around the room in what Pain could identify as obvious frustration with internal conflict  rising to the surface. Something he assumed was near foreign to her.

“Everyone here has been acting like I’ve got things so easy! And I should be thankful that I’ve been granted servitude over death. Thankful! As if suddenly that makes things okay! As if all my troubles are gone because I’m cleaning up after a bunch of insane dudes in a filthy whatever-the-fuck we’re in!” She stood there seething as if trying to hold back from saying any more. Trying to hold it all in. But Pein had to keep this going, she needed to get it all out so she could healthily cope.

“So, the reason for your outbursts with Kazu-”

“I’m not even that upset with her! I couldn’t be more apathetic towards whatever she’s pissed about!” She started up again, pacing around the room and throwing her arms about angrily. “So I fucked up the floor a little! I’ll admit that much! It’s not that bad, but more fucked up than before! Big whoop! But she had the nerve-The nerve! To up front tell me my attitude is unethical? Like this is somehow an awesome thing, and I’m being ungrateful about it? Well I’m not life regular people! I’d almost rather have been killed than be some two bit slave! WHOOPTY-FUCKIN’-DO!! I don’t know if maybe it’s some weird-ass cultural difference and this is just a thing here, but where I’m from there aren’t compromises like this AND WE SURE AS HELL DON’T EXPECT PEOPLE TO JUST GET OVER SHIT LIKE THIS!!! It doesn’t matter how long the leash is, you're still tied up and have to carry the weight of the leash wherever you go within its bounds!...” Apparently getting all that she could off her chest in one go, she allowed herself to collapse back into her chair. Pein watched in stoic shock at her outbursts as she sat breathing heavily. She no longer looked like a small package of fury, but instead looked spent and tired as she simmered down. Emotionally drained.

“I… Apologize… That was... uncalled for… I… Forgot my place…” She tiptoed around her words trying to choose them carefully. She didn’t exactly think she could get out of punishment for this one, but at the moment she didn’t particularly care. She was feeling both the sensation of relief and sickness you feel after you’ve purged something that’d been rotting inside for some time.

“You are excused.” Pein stated as he jotted down his analysis of what had just happened. After all, an emotional outburst was what the purpose of these sessions were for. Upon realizing this Enik glared slightly in his direction, having realized she had just given him what he wanted.

“...May I be excused now?” Enik asked through her teeth. Aware of her wish to leave Pein considered it.

“Very well, I believe we accomplished a bit. You’re dismissed.” Pein said, though he could’ve done without the hostility. Perhaps in their next session he’d have a talk about her manners. It was bad enough having Hidan around, but at least she only acted like so when provoked. Pein looked up when he noticed she had stopped and was currently lingering in the doorway.

“Is there something else you needed?” She hesitated, tapping the side of her leg a few times before blurting,

“Can I have my stuff?” Pein raised a brow.

“My clothes I mean. Can I have them?” She ventured, turning around to face him again.

“It’s just a few changes of pants, underwear, socks, and shirts, and I’ve been wearing the same clothes over and over since I got here.” She continued with her palms out to say she wasn’t asking much. Pein blinked.

“...I was wondering when you would request them. It’s been so long since the examination of your belongings, I had forgotten.” Well his mind was a little preoccupied, but, same difference.

Pein rose from his seat behind his desk, and approached a some old painting hanging in the middle of the wall to his left. Knowing it didn’t matter if Enik saw, or not given her lack of chakra ability, he turned the painting around to the back, while still pressing it against the wall. Enik watched with saucer eyes as he quickly threw out three handsigns and black markings appeared all along the back of the painting. Another five, and the markings spread off the paper and onto the wall behind. Enik double taked thinking she had been drugged somehow, but kept watching. Pein then removed the painting from the wall revealing a hidden compartment in the wall. It reminded her of secret safes in movies, which were also often hidden behind pictures and paintings...go figure. Along with a few other things, Enik saw all of her things and gear neatly placed in the small area aside from her sniper, which obviously wouldn’t fit. It must’ve been stashed away somewhere else.  Enik felt a deep longing when she caught sight of her brothers sawed off. Pein noticed, but assumed it was from the yearn for a change of clothes. Quickly taking hold of the pile of folded clothes, Pein put everything back in order, even showing to Enik that it now appeared to be a regular wall behind the painting once more. Way better than movie safes... Pein handed her the clothing, and leaned in closely.

“Consider this a reward for cooperating today. You be good to me, and I’ll be good to you.” He said, then sent her out.  

* * *

Kazuma changed into her sleepwear and stared at the cot lying in in the middle of her room. Ever since it had been put up it cut the rooms walk space in half. Kazuma gave a tired sigh. She really had been looking forward to having a roommate, but Enik hadn’t been what she had expected. Kazuma wasn’t completely oblivious to what people would behave like while captive, but this wasn’t what she had been expecting in the slightest. She’d been prepared for hysteric depression, and emotional breakdowns for a few weeks. Kazuma had hoped that if she took care of her in a broken state, then she’d be grateful, she could see they weren’t all so bad, maybe they could even establish a friendship. But this…? A stubborn, stoic, melancholy, grump, who only seems to be a little irritated by her predicament. Kazuma hadn’t the slightest idea how to get through to her. Maybe our personalities are just too different. Kazuma thought, starting to think they could never be friends. I just had to go and ruin everything didn’t I… If only she hadn’t started everything.

Kazuma stared wistfully at the cot a little longer. Considering it had been about a week since she had actually slept in the room, and who knows how much longer it will be before she sleeps in here again, if she ever does, Kazuma considered whether or not she should just dismantle and pack it up. She stared a little longer, and decided to wait it out a little longer. Suddenly someone knocked on the outside of the door.

“Come in.” Kazuma called she froze when the door was pushed open to reveal a certain short haired grouch clad in black. A silent standoff passed between the two of them. Kazuma didn’t know what to say, but noticed how uncomfortable Enik looked standing there in the doorway. Enik’s mouth kept hesitantly parting slightly as like she was trying to say something but couldn’t quite form the words. After a moment and what appeared to be an internal courage summoning, Enik pointed down the hall at nothing in particular.

“I fixed the floor.” She stated. I wasn’t expecting that. Kazuma made to say something, but was silenced by Enik holding up her hand. “It’s not all that great, I sanded everything down and coated it in lacquer, but there’s still a bit divot in the floor over there so until I can get the wood replaced be careful or you might break your ankle or something.” I tried to say something but was again cut off.

“Wait I’m not finished...Look...I’m not that great with people...more often than not I come across as grouchy, and my indifference tends to get on peoples nerves...I’m not that used to be around people all the time and I’m sort of uncomfortable with it…” Enik seemed to be having a hard time saying all these things, but Kazuma waited patiently for her to finish. She wasn't entirely sure where this was going but, it was...inciteful. Enik took a particularly long and excruciating pause this time.

“...I’m not used to this, I’m a bottler, I bottle shit up, the plan for me is to bottle everything up right here,” She made a closed fist over her heart, “-and one day I’ll die. I’ve never had to talk and share anything about myself before, and I can’t even remember the last time I showed even the slightest trace of affection towards anything, let alone try being friendly and social...I know this isn’t going like I’d hoped, and I’m sharing more than I ever have in my life but in it’s own...weird way I’m trying to apologize for saying what I said and being so distant when you were being so nice. And I do appreciate that, I do, but I ain't used to that either so I guess despite how bad I am at it, what I’m also trying to say is thanks!” She rambled off.

By the end she had started to even sound frantic. Enik stood there breathing heavily, and Kazuma in shock. What was she to do? What could she say? She wasn’t expecting anything like this to happen. She didn’t know what to say. She just stared there slack jaw for a moment trying to process what had happened. Enik’s expression didn’t change but it looked a little more haunted. Like a grimness had deepened further into her features.

“Um...okay...that’s uh...all I had to say…” Enik said and turned away to leave. Kazuma’s arm reached out for her as she went.

“Enik wait!” She called. Enik halted but didn’t turn around.

“This is all my fault, I started everything! I-ju-I-just-I woke up cranky and I was frustrated with a lot of things and I’m so sorry!” Kazuma sputtered with her emotional state amped up times ten, in contrast to Eniks frustration fueled anger. Enik turned towards her and leaned in the doorway.

“I don’t know what came over me I-I-I, Sometimes everything just builds up and every little thing makes me go on a rampage, and I’ve tried just staying away from everybody on these days but it never works, and it just prolongs everything and-and-and the explosions just that much bigger and-”

“Woah! Okay...I get it, everyone has one of those days now and then…” Enik sputtered in an attempt to avoid the emotional train wreck she was heading for before everything derailed. It was her turn to not be prepared for what was happening in front of her.

“No, this is all my fault! You probably wouldn’t’ve done anything if I hadn’t provoked it! I just wanted a response, and I’m so sorry!” Kazuma nearly wailed. Enik let loose a long sigh and shook her head a little.

“It's fine Kazuma. I probably needed to let some shit loose anyways.”Kazuma took a shaky breath as she accepted it, and once more silence fermented between the two.

“So what now…?” Enik asked.

“...Can we just…call it...friends?” Kazuma asked with some hope.

Enik stared at the floor really hard for a bit longer than Kazuma would’ve wanted. Then slowly and unsurely, started to nod without taking her eyes off the floor. But in a second Kazuma had switched from unsure and tense to ecstatic. Enik had noticed this with apprehension a second too late as Kazuma rapidly approached her with open arms. She took only got two steps back before she was enveloped in a life threatening hug. Kazuma squealed and bounced up and down as Enik squirmed and tried to break free. As little as it was, it was one of the most close and intimate moment since she was really little, and it was very uncomfortable. Enik squirmed until she realized it wasn’t getting her anywhere and just stood limply until Kazuma finally broke the dreaded embrace and pulled away.

“Sorry! I’m excited!” Kazuma said with glee. Enik took a step away for personal space and chuckled nervously.

“Um...It’s cool, just...don’t do it again.” Kazuma nodded.

“Also...Uh, maybe don’t get your hopes up just yet? Just cuz...I haven’t really done this before, so I have no idea how well this is going to go, alright?” Kazuma giggled thoughtfully, which had an oddly calming effect.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Don’t worry I’ll try to be patient when I’m not in a mood.” Kazuma said as she reached forward and patted Enik’s head. Enik’s lip curled and she turned her head away some, but otherwise permitted it.

“Heh, right, and I’ll try not to be provoked when you are.” This time they both laughed a little.

“Right...Well, I’m gonna go wash up.” Enik said and presented her palms which were covered in splinters, wood lacquer, and floor wax. Kazuma’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of the burn scars on her hands, but Enik didn’t care at the moment. She’d just had two emotional purges in one day, and felt like she was going to purge her stomach any second because of it. At the moment she didn’t really care if Kazuma saw, at this point and with what had just happened it didn’t seem to matter. As Enik turned to go try and get her arms cleansed, Kazuma stopped her once again.

“What?” Enik asked in her usual tone.

“Just wait a moment!” Kazuma said as she tore into her closet and returned with a small parcel and presented it to Enik.

“What is it?” Her voice rumbled as Kazuma placed the box in her hand.

“Open it.”

Enik did as suggested and opened the box. Inside was five small ceramic bowls with short inch and a half handles in the sides, soup spoons, about eight forks with only two long skinny prongs each, and three knives, not serrated but fairly sharp. It was what Enik could only classify, as the closest thing to the type of eating utensils she was used too back in the islands. It was small but a touching gesture. Enik looked back up not sure what to say.

“Tobi suggested it when I went to town the other day, as sort of a peace offering but...I wasn’t sure how you would take it as that.” Kazuma explained. Enik could give her that. If someone tried to bribe her into behaving, it’s probably just enrage her. But as a reconcile gift?

“Thank you.” She said. Trying to be polite Enik shook her hand. She wasn’t quite at friendly hug level. Not by a long shot. But for now, Kazuma accepted it with an equally firm grasp. Enik put her new silverware and the bundle of clothes she had tucked in her jackets largest pocket, underneath her cot, and went to go take a shower. Huh...friendship really does spawn from a bad fight. Enik thought. A nostalgic fight crept on her face as she remembered both how often she and her brother fought, and how close they were. Even directly after a fight. Well, in some cases that is…

* * *

“Knock, knock Zumi.” Tobi said from outside Kazuma’s room. He was granted a cheerful,

“Come in!” From Kazuma. He smiled under his mask. Hopefully that’s a good sign. Inside he was greeted with the good news that she and Enik had finally reconciled. Tobi was of course overjoyed to hear it, so he didn’t have to act like it wasn’t happening anymore. Kazuma chatted happily what had happened and admitted she had even been a bit jealous of Tobi for his little acquaintanceship he had already established. Then the two continued to gossip like children for a good half an hour.

“Where is Enie by the way?” Tobi asked with curiosity after some time.

“She went to got get some splinters out of her hands I think and try to get the lacquer off.”

“Ooh! Tobi can go congratulate her then!” Tobi said as headed for the door with a spring in his step leaving Kazuma to chuckle at his antics. tobi bounded down the halls to the bathroom to find it unlocked.

“Hi Enie! I --!” Tobi stopped mid sentence. He had thrown the door open to find a disturbing sight. Enik had gotten out of the shower not long ago, and was in nothing but her underwear, leaning over the counter picking at a splinter in between two fingers. What Tobi saw was something he had been curious about since he had met her, and now wished he never did. It wasn’t just her hands and some of her neck and face that was covered in burn scars. Tobi had suspected as much, but this was a bit worse than he had originally pictured. Almost completely covering her lags and most of her torso was streaks of predominantly bright red, and white scar tissue. Aside from a few spots and streaks that cut through it where there wasn’t a trace of ever coming into contact with a fire, it looked like she had been painted on by an abstract artist. It was haunting.

Enik’s small, yet fit frame stiffened when Tobi entered. He saw every muscle visible tense up like a cat. A long stunned silence passed between the two, then finally all at once Enik’s muscles relaxed as she let out a sigh, and continued picking at the stubborn splinter she had been tryinh to dislodge.

“...Unsightly, isn’t it?” She asking in her signature monotone, like nothing had happened. Tobi was still to far into shock to answer.


	8. Holidays

“...Unsightly, isn’t it?” She asking in her signature monotone, like nothing had happened. Tobi was still too far into shock to answer. 

 

Enik continued to pick the splinters out or her hands for what felt like ten minutes while Tobi just stood there in shock. He had assumed the burns were elsewhere considering they covered both hands and some of her face, but this was horrifying to witness. It’s never the scars that really get to people, it’s the mutilation that brought them on. The scar makes you look away, the cause makes you cringe. It was like looking at a ghost, it sent chills down your spine. 

 

“Hey, swirly faced schitzo, you just gonna leave the door open or what?” Tobi snapped out of his trance and, a little flustered turned and double taked at the door. He wasn’t quite sure what to do. Enik rolled her eyes, pulled him in the bathroom all the way, sat him down on the side of the bathtub shower combo, shut the door and continued trying to pick at a particularly stubborn splinter. 

 

“E-Enie, wha…? What happened?” Tobi asked.

 

“Uh, I was on fire?”  Enik stated like it was obvious. Under his mask Tobi frowned. 

 

“When…?” 

 

“I was...two and a half? Yeah. An electrical fire started while everyone was asleep. I got severe second degree burns on over 70% or my body.” Tobi was dumbfounded. He couldn’t imagine something as awful as that happening to such a young child. The idea alone was haunting. Yet, at the same time, Enik didn’t seem too bothered by it. She answered directly without issue, and that didn’t seem right. But on the other hand, she was only two. Perhaps she didn’t remember it.

 

“Does Enie...Remember?” Tobi ventured. Enik stopped picking at her hands and looked up in a contemplative manner.

 

“Uhh...Sort of, it’s all kinda hazey--Or smoky.” She said with a grimace. “Not really, I sort of remember having to wear a lot of bandages though. This might be kinda fucked up but I consider myself lucky for getting burned when I did.”

 

“What?!”  _ How is a two year old being on fire lucky? In any culture, no matter how supersticious you are being on fire is not a good thing! _

 

“Well, not as lucky as not being on fire ever, but the timing wasn’t bad.” She explained. “I was young enough that I probably wouldn’t remember it when I got older, which I don’t really, and I still had a lot of growing to do, which despite the color, gave my scars the chance to shift and fade a little.”

 

“I don’t understand.” Tobi was so startled he even referred to himself in the first person. 

 

“Well, when I first got burnt, my skin was all puffed and bumped up where ever I got burnt, and believe it or not the color scheme was even worse than now.” She gave a short laugh. “The more I grew however, the more my skin grew and shifted, the scar faded and smoothed out. I used to have a lot more purple and darker red too, but that faded into this red and white streaky thing I got going on that looks like I got drunk at a body painting parlor and said make me tye dyed.” She finished with another slight chuckle. Tobi didn’t laugh. 

 

“Oh…” Was all he could say. Enik apparently finished picking at what she could, rinsed her hands off and started pulling on the clothes she had on the floor. Her pants, a tank top, her rings, and lastly her skull sweatshirt. Since poking fun at herself didn’t lighten the mood Enik figured she should just cut to the chase.

 

“Alright, look here Tobi, just because you’ve seen the whole picture, doesn’t mean I want you treating me like some fragile little victim. Yes, this happened, but you would not believe the pain tolerance it left behind. I’m a bounty hunter, I get hurt. If you're gonna feel bad, don’t whine to me about it unless you feel bad enough to let me leave this hell hole m’kay?” 

 

“But Enie...You're so scarred…” He said in a saddened tone. Enik responded with an indifferent shrug. Like she thought it was a fair trade. “...Was anyone else...burnt?”

 

“My brother was the first one to wake up and notice the fire. He was like four, and ran to my parents room on the other end of the apartment and woke them up. My dad and my brother got out fine, but my mom got a some burns on her legs and hands trying to go get me out of my crib in the nursery.” Tobi didn’t like where this discussion was going. With every word that came out of her mouth the story got grimmer and grimmer. And the calm apathetic way she spoke of it made it seem that much eerier.

 

“...Did she get you?”

 

“Nah, she had to go back. A fireman got us both out a little later.” Tobi looked down.

 

“...Enie’s not as modest as she seems.” Enik raised an eyebrow. 

 

“Tobi, I didn’t bother trying to hide myself after you saw me, because you had already seen everything there was to see. I’m not self conscious of my body, I know how fucked up it looks and I’m resigned to that --and don’t try to tell me it’s not that bad. I don’t wear heavy clothes because I’m afraid, I wear it to avoid the scared looks I get from people when they see even just my hands.” She presented her hands. 

 

“Though, to be fair my hands and feet got the worse burns on them. They still have bumps and welts.” They did infact have spots on them where the skin had risen up and fallen down. Enik smirked. “Heheh, that’s one thing I guess...Can’t look much better, can't get much worse, I don’t have to give nearly as much of a fuck about my appearance as most girls my age do. And I take pride in that. Heheh, besides why should I be modest? If anyone can see that much  _ skin _ , that’s exactly what their looking at instead of my girly parts heheh.” Tobi heard a small hint of pride in her voice.

 

“But doesn’t Enie wanna get married and have babies?” Enik stared blankly at Tobi for a moment like he had just asked the dumbest thing she had ever heard. Then, as if remembering who she was talking too, pinched the bridge of her nose.

 

“First off, just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I want to be some quiet little house wife, or whatever the girls in this country do when they're adults, and second, again, I’m resigned to the fact that nothing like that’ll ever happen. Being forced to deal with you people on a regular basis is the most social I’ve been in a long time, even with people I don’t hate.” 

 

“But what about Enie’s family? Didn’t Enie be social with them?” Enik was silent for a few minutes.

 

“...I think I’ve shared enough for one night…” She said as she made Tobi stand from his spot and ushered him out of the bathroom. 

 

“But-,”

 

“-Unless you’d like to show me what’s under that mask of yours? It’s only fair, right? I mean you’ve already seen what I keep hidden, why not let me see yours?”

 

“...” Tobi didn’t answer, giving Enik a small satisfied smirk.

 

“ That’s what I though. Besides, this has probably been a lot to take in, you should probably sleep it over, goodnight Tobi.” Enik said as she walked down the hall toward her and Kazuma’s room. 

 

Tobi did indeed need to sleep on this. It was a bit to much for one sitting to take in. Sure, he’d seen and done some pretty messed up things working with the Akatsuki, and this didn’t take the cake, but actually talking to someone so indifferent towards such an event was...unsettling. He couldn’t deny it made sense of a few things. Though she was initially startled by Kisame, Kakuzu and Zetsu, in a remarkably short amount of time she lost that appalled stare most have for quite some time. Granted he knew she still kept her guard up around Zetsu, but other than that she held the same indifferent stare she used on anyone and everything else. As much of an enigma as she seemed, it left Tobi with a lot of questions.Was she that way from the fire? Was everyone from the hidden islands like this? He might need a little more than a nights sleep to mull this over if he wants to be able to look at her the same way. Not that anyone would notice past his mask. 

 

* * *

 

A long, exhausting and fruitless journey. That is what Konan was returning with, tail between her legs, instead of some form of information. It had been a hard two months since she had left, and roughly three weeks since the Akatsuki’s captive and Kazuma had almost tried to murder each other. But Konan was unaware of any of that, what she was aware of, was that the hidden islands were ghosts. It seemed the closer she came to the ocean, the less people knew what she talked about. By the time Konan had actually made it to the seaside, no one had even heard the rumors. She even tried interrogating a few unfortunate characters. Nothing. She was searching in the dark for a nonexistent lightswitch. 

 

_ Hm...The rain is here as well. _ Konan noted. She was now only miles from the base, and the rain was still coming down, though not as heavy as when she first set out. It was light, and wispy and only lightly dampened her skin with small chills. A small grimace formed on the curves of her mouth, as she looked fondly at the forest dark and sparkling as each rain droplet condensed on over everything. It made her feel nostalgic and glad to return. Her emotions with the rain was as bipolar as the weather itself. She felt grim while it was around, and depressed when it was gone. It might not be the best friend, but it was comforting while it lasted. Especially this rain. This rain was special. Reaching out her bare palm, Konan let the droplets crash against her skin. With each one she felt the small traces of chakra that laced them. Her grimace deepened into a small grin. She knew the chakra well.  _ It won't be long before he notices if he hasn’t already. _

 

Then Konan stopped. Her eyes scanned through the forests greenery off the trail sharply. A small shimmer, the echo of a small twig softly snapping, slightly flattened and parted patches of grass. She was being followed. Trying not to blow the fact that she had become aware, Konan continued strolling along the trail at a slower pace. If she didn’t need to conserve her chakra, she would’ve expanded it to figure out exactly where they were. But, on the other hand, who ever they were seemed to be a bit in over their heads for taking on an S rank nin. After five minutes, she could already hear at least three tailing her. 

 

Hopefully they’d initiate the fight before she comes closer to the base. Running and hiding wasn’t something she liked to do, calling them out, or going after them would push them back, make them scatter and in the very least prolong the inevitable fight that was sure to ensue. But if they don’t hurry up soon, Konan would have to circle around a few times to avoid giving the bases location away.  _ I really hope this doesn’t get drug out any longer than it needs to be.  _

 

* * *

 

“Why are we doing this again?” Kisame asked as he painted frightening faces on overgrown heads of garlic. 

 

“Because Enik opened her fucking mouth.” Hidan growled as he carved carved on a small piece of wood, courtesy of Sasori. 

 

“S’not my fault…” Enik said, only sort of listening as she concentrated on carving a different piece of wood into a small palm sized tiki carving. 

 

“...I don’t even know why the fuck I’m here…” Hidan growled as he whittled on a piece of wood. Without even looking at him Enik stated,

 

“Because you have nothing better to do, ass.”

 

About a week earlier Enik made the mistake of mentioning an upcoming island holiday in the presence of Kazuma. During the the fall equinox, it is believed that the spiritual line between the seen world and the unseen disappears for twenty four hours giving demons, spirits, monsters, and everything else nameable free reign over pretty much everything they can get at. To prevent them from bringing harm onto your home, people decorate theirs with various objects intent to ward off evil. The next day, provided nothing bad happened, everyone would celebrate survival by having a feast of rich foods and desserts. 

 

So there they were, making decor because the spookiness of it all made Kazuma think it would be fun to celebrate, despite how serious Enik took the holiday. Kazuma was busy making traditional sweets and food for the next day, with a never faltering smile on her face. Tobi enthusiastically volunteered to help, and was now making incense candles with a special wax made from various herbs, sage, bee wax, tree sap, a few other various natural ingredients, and lastly, but most importantly ash and soot from a very damp moss covered log, fresh from the dying tree the sap was collected from. Tobi giggled as he dipped the candles in the vat of wax and accumulating the mass of them. 

 

Kisame also managed to get himself roped into the work of painting scary faces on heads of garlic, but was content with the company, and having something to do. Enik and Hidan were both making carvings. Enik, being the only one of two who knew what to carve for said holiday, was concentrating on correctly carving a voodoo tiki from the piece of wood in her hand. From the same tree as the loss wood used for the wax she added. 

 

“But what’s the point of making these again? I’m getting creeped out from these and I’m the one painting them.” Kisame said as he painted another head of garlic. No matter how he tried painting them, they just looked demonic. 

 

“That means you're doing it right.” Enik said. “Their supposed to be creepy so demons don’t want to be around them. If you put them around where you live, they’re less likely to pay you a visit.”

 

“Why garlic of all things?”

 

“They’re supposed to look like shrunken heads, -I’ve got a few back in my apartment,- the sized, the way their shaped, and the way they absorb the paint make ‘em a good substitute. Plus, the smell is like spirit repellant so they work just as good. In fact-” Enik reached across the table and grabbed a few unpainted pieces of garlic, held them over the vat of wax and squeezed the garlics juice into it. Then tossed the crushed head in whole. “That’ll give it some potency.” 

 

“Hehe~ Tobi thinks the candles are super eerie Enie~!” 

 

“Damn straight.” Enik replied, and the two shared a fist bump. 

 

“How many more does Tobi have to make?” He asked. 

 

“Enough to burn through the night and tomorrow.”

 

“Tsk’ I fucking hate that Jashin-damned garlic smell.” Hidan cursed. Enik provided a fake gasp.

 

“How  _ odd! _ Hidan doesn’t like something that’s supposed to ward off  _ evil. _ ” Kisame and Tobi chuckled a little. 

 

“I wonder if there’s a relation?” Kisame joked. Hidan rolled his eyes with a smug stupid looking smirk.

 

“Fuck yeah. I’m the meanest damn thing out there.” Enik rolled her eyes with slight annoyance and caught a glimpse of what Hidan was carving over there. 

 

It looked like it was supposed to be a figurine of someone, but it wasn’t completed enough to know who out without asking. She’d already gotten away with being passive aggressive, so calling him out for not actually making something pertaining to what everyone else was doing would definitely be a bad move on her part. Setting down her now completed tiki next to the other four, she reached over and grabbed another piece of wood to start carving on, and noticed Hidan’s had the same symbol as the pendant he always wore carved into it. Enik decided to leave it be. If an immortal douchebag likes it then it probably won’t do any harm. Heck, it might even help scare some shit off. 

 

Besides, this was the least aggressive and agitated she’d seen him. Perhaps the act of concentrating on something calmed him somehow. He didn’t jump at Enik’s comments or show any sign that she’d pay for it later. Maybe it was because he was relaxed, or for some reason feeling festive. Enik didn’t know, nor did she feel the need to dwell on it or go any further into it. 

 

* * *

 

The rain made a distinct pitter patter on the ground around the puddles on the trail. Konan stopped. She sensed the presence of a few nin surrounding her, and closing in. Five, she counted. Her muscles tensing as she prepared for a battle stance. They got closer then stopped, just outside the average line of sight. Konan braced herself, but nothing happened.

 

“Come out.” She commanded. 

 

Nothing happened.  _ Okay... _ In the blink of an eye Konan’s hands were together skillfully signing away. Just as she finished three chains shot out from the brush straight towards her. In a flurry of paper birds, Konan’s jutsu took effect. The air itself became engulfed in paper hummingbirds where Konan had stood, and expanded out through the brush revealing that in the last second the chains had blasted through paper completely missing their target. the paper floated through the air reaching each adversary.

 

“It’s just a genjutsu! Keep an eye out, she’s gotta be around here somewhere!” The one Konan assumed to be the leader called to his squad. 

 

The other nin stood wary as the paper birds circled around each of them individually. Thinking quickly, each performed the release handsign and with panic realized the genjutsu had not been undone. If only it had been a genjutsu. None processed what the paper bird held in store for them until they detonated in a smoky flamen blaze. After the smoke had cleared a small blue butterfly pitter-pattered to a lone branch. Five lay limp. Two unconscious. One flung up and impaled in tree branches slowly but surely bleeding to death. Another, lay it’s temple crushed into a rock protruding from the ground, encircled in a pool of blood, and eyes half open still. Lastly, a scorched body with it’s right arm and half of their head blown off. The butterfly shifted, then in a poof of smoke was replaced by Konan. Her dull uninterested eyes fell to the two survivors, still clad in dark armor and fabric concealing even the gender and age of her assailants. Konan made to take a step in their direction when sharply she sensed something. A sharp pain was sent through her midriff and everything faded.  

 

* * *

 

Enik looked at the completed Voodoo tiki’s she had completed. Each one looking different from the next. There was precisely 13, as per tradition. As Tobi, Kazuma, and her decorated the living room with all the various decor they had made, she wondered where would be good to place them. Under normal circumstances, with Enik being here she’d say:  _ Screw it! Let evil in here! Who gives a damn what happens to these assholes! i’m counting on it! _ And just not put up anything. But this year was special. Besides it being a leap year, theres a five day full moon that reaches it’s peak during the night of the equinox...That alone gave Enik a bad feeling about it. Enough so that she’d rather not chance anything by not putting up something. Luckily Tobi and Kazuma were so enthusiastic about it that they agreed to do what they could. 

 

“What’s with the freaky redecorating all of a sudden, un?” Deidara asked as he came into the room. 

 

“It’s for the equinox Deidara-Senpai~!” Tobi answered. 

 

“Remember, I told you about it last week?” Kazuma pitched in. 

 

“Oh yeah...When is that, un?”

 

“It’s today dude. It’s already been going on.” Everyone in the room gave a small laugh. 

 

“So what do you even do for it…?” Deidara growled with annoyance from slight embarrassment. 

 

“Eh...mostly deck your home out to look scary so nothing supernatural wants go enter it and cause trouble.”

 

“Trouble?” Tobi asked. 

 

“Yeah, you know like: Fuck up your house, break your stuff, freak people out, haunt them, possess them, Uh… Maim them, make ‘em go insane, kill them. Y’know mischief and stuff like that.” Deidara was staring with his jaw hanging down, Kakuzu, who was sitting on the couch was giving Enik an odd look under all his fabric, and Zetsu, also present in the room was looking on with interest.

 

“...What kind of freaky ass holiday is that? That doesn’t sound festive at all, un!!” Enik shrugged. 

 

“I don’t know...There’s something thrilling in all the paranoia. Besides the day after everyone goes apeshit with celebration once it’s all over. Haha, they all act like it’s the end of the world, it’s crazy.” Enik said fondly remembering the mayhem that occurred at last years day after. She could only imagine how exstatic people would be tomorrow with everything going on with it this yeah. What with the full moon and all. 

 

“You didn’t mention that!” He beamed. “What kind of celebration is it?” 

 

“Yeah, Enik.” Kazuma said, getting interested in more of the details. 

 

“Uh, it’s like a big block party through the streets…” Enik said carefully. Deidara seemed to be getting excited about something. 

 

“...Party, like with fireworks, un?” he asked.

 

“Um, yeah, usually.” Enik said as she placed some good luck charms next to one of the candles. Out the corner of her eyes she noticed Deidara Messing with something in his hands, which she could only guess was of of his explosive sculptures--sorry,  _ works of art _ . Deidara approached her and presented a small clay fly. It was tiny, which was why when it flew up in the air and exploded it didn’t cause damage to anything except Tobi’s ears.

 

“So, would that be a nice substitute, un?” He asked with a grin. Enik contemplated for a moment.

 

“...If you make ‘em look demented and help decorate the base with them tonight, then blow ‘em up tomorrow, that’d be even better.” Deidara seem more than happy with that response.

 

“I like the equinox, un.” Was all he said before he left the room to go, what everyone in the room assumed was to make more sculptures. Zetsu also left without a word as well.

 

“What I’d like to know is how much all these decorations cost.” Kakuzu growled.

 

“Calm down, everything we didn’t find in the woods we had an abundance of in stock, or cost almost nothing.” Kazuma assured.      

 

“Yeah, like these garlic heads you have sitting everywhere?” Then he grumbled something about being wasteful.

 

“Zetsu let us take them from his garden.” Kazuma argued. I walked over to the couch so I wouldn’t have to talk from across the room. My voice was too monotone and quiet for that distance. 

 

“Relax, alright? Just be happy we’re not all in costume.” 

 

“Costume?” He and Tobi asked. Enik looked over her shoulder to see if Kazuma was listening. All clear, she was arranging a tiki with some candle to look nice. Enik's got ten minutes at least.

 

“Normally if you needed to leave your house during the day, you’d go in costume to intimidate any wandering spirit for safe passage. Generally like everything else during the equinox, you try to look as scary as possible.”

 

“Then, why won’t you let Kazuma know about it? It sounds like a big and important part of the holiday.” Kakuzu stated.

 

“What are you going senile? If I told Kazuma about that she’d be all over it, and we’d all be in costume!” Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

 

“No, I mean why are you against it?” Enik shrugged.

 

“It’s actually not a big part of the equinox. That’s just a fun thing people do for festive purposes so they can have a little fun on what is supposed to be a terrifying time of year. There is some truth to it, but I usually just stay home. I think that if you're out in broad daylight, a costume isn’t going to ward off shit.” Kakuzu nodded. He’d already learned just how superstitious Enik could be about silly things like this.  

 

“But, why doesn’t Enie dress up for fun anyways?” Tobi asked. Turning away from Kakuzu Enik answered.

 

“I don’t know, I’m not that into it...Besides I wouldn’t really need it now would I?” She joked, Tobi laugh uncomfortably a little. It was taking time, but he was warming up to her side jokes more and more.  

 

She didn’t bother saying the real reason she didn’t tell Kazuma about it. Which was that pretty much everyone here was already so odd looking they didn’t need to dress up. Herself included as she had just implied to Tobi. Her scars, Deidara’s hands, Tobi already pretty much wore a costume all the time, Pein’s piercings, Kakuzu, Kisame, and Zetsu...Nuff’ said. She also didn’t feel like sharing the fact that dressing up is only fun if you're actually actively social with people who like you, and that the equinox was a time to spend with loved ones. And neither of those were something she partook in. Suddenly a chill ran down Enik’s spine. With a flinch she turned around to find a satisfied looking Zetsu holding...Holy shit…

 

In Zetsu’s arms were several bones, which Enik could easily have tricked herself into thinking were from an animal...if it weren’t for the fact that he was also holding human skulls. Her eyes were wide with horror, but the rest of her face gave off little. 

 

“I thought the equinox sounded fun~ **Will this suffice for scary decorations?”** _That is thee most fucked up thing I’ve ever heard...I think…_ Enik’s my lip twitched in disgust a little. She didn’t know how to tell him no without insulting him. She still tried her best to watch what she said and avoid him--them--whenever she could despite how much she knew she “entertained” them. Her stomach churned a little at the sight of the bones. But, on the other hand...could she really deny this opportunity? Without looking up she said,

 

“Yep. That’ll work.” Making that the second most fucked up thing she’d heard...At least today. “Try puttin’ em up where ever you can, do you have any more skulls? Cuz those’ll be good to burn the candles on.”

 

On one hand, yeah, that’s pretty fucked up. But on the other, the bad feeling she felt when she was reminded that the equinox was during a full moon was still ever present. And what would freak out demons more than people using bones from their own species as decorations? Enik doesn’t fuck around with this shit. No one in their right mind would think of killing someone for the equinox, but with these circumstances, she felt she couldn’t let the opportunity pass. Besides, she’s been around corpses before, she’s cleaned up after Zetsu, there isn’t any meat left on them, and animal bones don’t bother her in the slightest. How bad could this be.

 

“Tobi, do we have any wax and incense left over?”

 

* * *

 

_ A sixth?!  _ Konan strained to clear her vision as pain was sent through everyone of her chakra points starting from her core. In a single jolt, Konan freed herself bye flinging herself from the tree branch she was on. Her vision cleared as she fell, and was able to land on her hands and knees without being harmed by the fall. An intense pain continued to surge through her core with every movement she made. She knew she’d never felt it before, but she was sure she knew what it was. Her chakra was sealed off. Konan would now have to rely complete on hand to hand combat. 

 

In a flash something shot in Konans direction. On reflex Konan rebounded it sending it back the way it came. It exploded, but there wasn’t a chance who ever threw it was still over there. But at least she knew where they weren’t. Narrow eyes scanned the surrounding, but it would only do little. With her chakra sealed off and the rain becoming a steady drizzle, the only viable sensory option was sight. The one thing ninja are trianed not to rely on souly. She was a sitting duck. 

 

“Come out, come out.” She taunted. 

 

It wasn’t her style, but if they would just reveal themself she still had a fighting chance. Another kunai with an explosive came whirling towards her. Then back it went to sender. Another explosion. Deidara would be proud. Three more kunai, three more blasts. Konan turned her back from where the last one had come on impulse to be ready for the next. However before another was thrown the assailant had emerged from the exact location she had assumed she wasn’t and had just turned away from. Konan turned just in time to catch a fist directed at her face. seconds later she caught a foot with the other hand. before she could react whoever it was pivoted their body: both freeing themself and kicking her across the face and sending her back. 

 

Konan regained herself and turned toward her assailant. But whoever it was, was gone again. Konan turned again just in time to be sucker punched in the stomach. She collapsed on the ground clutching her stomach, and was kicked again, in the back of the head. As her vision blurred from the last kick she felt herself get flipped over and her assailant straddle her, keeping her arms pinned to her sides. 

 

“ _ This is for my team! _ ” Konan recognized the voice as male. And he sounded like he was trying not to cry.   

 

* * *

 

“Pleeeeeease Itachi~!” Tobi begged. The raven haired man remained indifferent to the yammering boys whines in the hopes that he would drop it. 

 

“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease Itachi~~~!!!” Tobi extended. Internally Itachi’s face twitched. 

 

‘Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~!” Instantly Itachi Turned and looked Tobi dead in the mask, who stopped and froze under Itachi’s gaze.

 

“...Please?” Tobi said in a small voice that could only be compared to the whine of a puppy. 

 

He knew what today was. He knew it better than everyone else because he remembered it from Enik’s memories, and he understood the seriousness of it. But, of course, that didn’t mean Itachi bought into it. All the superstitions, and costoms, even their demons were unrealistic. Stories of malevolent invisible entities, it clashed in ways with what Itachi knew to be actual demons like the jinjuriki that he almost found the ideas laughable...If he laughed that is. Though he could agree that the idea of these eerie spirits was terrifying, he still found them to be agnostic myths at best. Without moving, he glanced toward Enik, who was just finishing up a few preparations with Kazuma. He knew better than to openly deny it however. Though he didn’t believe in it, he knew Enik bought into it wholeheartedly, and in theory, to deny their existence, especially on today of all days would be asking for trouble. It’d attract them, anger them. Challenge them. Itachi personally didn’t have the heart to do anything to put the girl on edge. For some reason the alignment of the moon was already doing that. With a sigh, Itachi gave into Tobi’s whines. Standing back, Itachi activated his mangekyo sharingan. Within seconds all the candles in the room were lit ablaze with amaterasu. 

 

“Yay~! Thank you~!” Tobi chimed as he jumped around the room examining the glowing of the black flames. 

 

He had to admit, along with everything else that had been made in the last few days, the unnatural feel amaterasu gave off really gave everything that extra kick it needed. There was some elegance in the way it burned on each candle, giving off just the right amount of unsettling skin crawls, as opposed to an overwhelming wave of paranoia it normally would in a decent sized flame. The Lighting was pretty unnerving as well. Itachi felt a small prick of satisfaction rise within him. He, and a few other members of the Akatsuki would probably feel something none had felt in a long time. That all too human feeling of paranoia everyone gets in the back of their head as the leave a darkened room. There was sure to be chills tonight. 

 

“Just make sure not to knock any of them over.” Itach concluded. Then he was off, he had several more candles to light throughout the base. 

 

Enik stood back to admire the work that had been put into everything. She couldn’t believe she was even thinking this, but considering what she had to work with, this year actually turned out pretty great. The best yet, she’d venture. It was odd how comforting something that was supposed to be horrifying could be. She felt at ease. She never thought she’d ever think that in some dank base in a foreign country, surrounded by criminals who are keeping her captive, that she could feel as protected as she did from entities on a supernatural night like this one. It almost made her laugh. Hysterically. 

 

“I think that just about does it.” Enik declared.

 

“That’s great!” Kazuma cheered.

 

“What do we do now?” Kisame asked. Enik shrugged.

 

“I guess just call it a day and hope nothing happens until tomorrow.”

 

“That can’t be it, un.” 

 

“Yeah, you gotta do something else all night. What do you usually do?” Kisame asked. Enik blew some air out her mouth in thought.

 

“Well, I don’t really do much, but I think people usually light a fire after watching the sunset and try to take the heat off things by chilling around it. Do we have anymore wood from that tree left over?” Kisame seemed satisfied with the answer.

 

“I’ll put the wood in the fireplace.” He said, then left the room. Tobi jumped up with excitement soon after.

 

“And Tobi, will get Itachi to light it!” He said then followed out after Kisame.

 

“And I’ll go make sure they don’t burn this place further into the ground…” Sasori grumbled as he got up, and followed. 

 

“Have you seen leader, un?” Enik heard Deidara ask on the other end of the room. 

 

“I think he left the base. I didn’t ask where he was going, but he was in a hurry for something.” Kazuma answered.

 

“He seems a little distracted about something today didn’t he, un.”

 

“Yeah…” Was the last thing she comprehended before she stopped listening. 

 

Shaking her head, Enik bundled up a few final good luck charms, and left the room before anyone who remained in it could notice. Taking a few extra turns to make sure she wasn’t being followed, Enik made her way to the abandoned area of the base. Though, Enik was not looking for an escape today. Todays date was the last one that she would want to go without shelter, or go off exploring. The last thing she needed was to get lost...There’s no telling what she might encounter. She passed by door after door, going into darked and dimmer flickering lights. Small puff of dust exploded off the floor with ever step she took through the filthy cobwebbed hall. She could still see the footprints from the last time she had walked through here. Sure enough, soon Enik once again found the door with the mummified animal corpse wrapped in cobwebs. Perfect. 

 

Tearing through years of undisturbed spiderwire, Enik opened the door with a loud creak and some effort. Inside was dark, covered in even more dust and cobwebs, and probably rodent skeletons. The air was thick, and stale, and the room had several pieces of furniture covered in white sheets, along with a few bookshelves and long dinner table. looks like she found yet another study. She’ll give the ninja’s one thing. They did war bunkers the right way. 

 

Setting her bundle of supplies aside, Enik set to work. Taking a few of the sheets off the furniture, and having some just about fall apart, Enik threw the sheets over the table and touching the floor all the way around, with only a slight opening in the middle to crawl though. Enik had with her three of the most demented looking Tiki’s of the thirteen, four lit candles, two skulls, two femurs, a garlic head necklace, her skull shirt, rings, and the silver coin she had found, the leftover log ash, and the kitchens supply of salt, all awkwardly balanced in her arms. She was ready. Setting down her supplies, Enik first arranged one Voodoo tiki in the center of the table facing the door, then placed a skull with an incense candle burning over the top, on each side. 

 

She almost had a heart attack when one of the candles knocked over. Luckily nothing caught on fire when it did though. Apparently black ninja fire was some wicked shit, so no thank you. Taking a breath and examining what she had gathered, Enik then put the remaining two candles and tiki’s under the table where she would be sleeping tonight. She’d bring by her sleeping bag later. Next Enik made a thick ring of salt around the table, and saved the ashes to spread over the top of the table and on the floor for later. Taking a step back to look at the makeshift fort Enik felt confident in what was going to be her sanctuary for the night. Femur bones in hand Enik, Enik approached the door.  _ Maybe I should arrange these by the door.  _ She thought. 

 

Right as she got to the door she realized someone was standing in the hallway and gripped the bones tighter. She didn’t know who or what it was, all she knew was that it’s shadow was large and misshapen. Clutching the bones like two clubs, Enik held them up in a way the was both defensive and offensive. Her face contorted into a snarl, she prepared herself for what was in the hall for whatever  _ thing _ was waiting for her in the hall. Inching out, she flinched, then with a scoff dropped her arms to her side and emerged fully from the room. Zetsu’s dark side snicked at if she’d just told a joke...or he thought she was a joke. Enik was expecting worse...Well, she wasn’t expecting Zetsu.

 

“Whattis it?” She snapped, returning to her withdrawn borderline annoyed mannerism. Black Zetsu’s lip curled into a snarl from her rudeness, though white Zetsu had a thoughtful smile. The combination was creepy as hell.  

 

She still hadn’t let her guard down knowing it was only Zetsu. Just because the only thing he ever did was try to spook her didn’t mean he couldn’t do anything if he wanted to. Enik took a step back as Zetsu’s flytrap slowly opened up, then he lunged forward  Despite trying to move away, she had only managed to jump back and turn around mid run before Zetsu caught her. Her eyes widened with panic the second she felt his hand firmly grip her shoulder, then before anything could be done she felt herself get drug back and became overwelmed by cold darkness, the inability to move and the panic of suffocation, all mixed in with a strong familiarity. She knew this feel. Zetsu had just drug her underground yet again. A shrill terror tore through her being at the thought that she might die. None of the others would know where she had gone, or what had happened, and even if they did, what was the worse that would happen? Zetsu’s one of them. He’s got immunity. 

 

All she could do was try to think of a reason why Zetsu had done this as she waited to run out of oxygen and slowly fade into unconsciousness with the last thing she’d ever hear being her own heartbeat slowing to a stop. But no such scenario occurred. She could move. And breath. Enik collapsed to the ground and started coughing and gasping for air. She could hear a soft pitter patter to her right. Enik opened her eyes. Rain was falling over a thick forest, but she was shielded from it by the cave entrance she was so close to. She stared with wide eyes. It was the first time she had seen outside, or smelt fresh air since she had been taken. She looked over to Zetsu without a thing to say. What could she say? What was going on. 

 

“ **Don’t even think about running.** ” 

 

“...Why did you bring me out here?”

 

“Everyone should have the chance to come up for air every now and then. **Why not kill two birds with one stone,** by watching twilight. That’s what you do on the equinox, right?” 

 

Enik stared at the plant man with mystified wide eyes for who knows how long before she hesitantly nodded, then returned her gaze to the outside world. _ I guess him being some sort of plant hybrid would make him understand the need to go outside every now and then. N’get some fresh air. _ Edging toward where the rain started and the dryness of the cave, Enik yearned to let the rain dampen through her jacket, sweatshirt and tanktop straight to her skin, no matter how much she had come to hate the rain when she was traveling here. Back on the island the rain would always be warm aside from sea storms. Right off the bat she decided she hated cold rain with a sour passion, but right now she’d settle for anything. Just before she was about to make contact with the rain she was stopped. 

 

“ **I wouldn’t do that.** Leader will sense your chakras presence.”  _ Of course. _

 

“I don’t have chakra.”

 

“You can’t use it.  **There** **_is_ ** **a difference.** ” 

 

_ Hm...’was hoping he-they’d go for it… _ But, watching the dim light refracting through the stormy clouds was enough. Enik certainly wouldn’t be forgetting this sight anytime soon. If ever. She watched motionlessly in silence as the rain fell and the light ran further and further away escaping as the night set in, along with whatever else. Night was setting in fast and with that the creeping feeling she was being watched and no matter where she looked she’d never find who or whatever it was. She was about to say something about going back inside, when she saw something in the distance. It was too far to see what it was, even with Enik’s farsighted vision, but whatever it was, was getting closer- _ fast. _ Enik took an uneasy step back and turned toward Zetsu. His eyes were fixed on it was well and both sides of his face were in a concentrated pout. 

 

“Time to go.” He said, then just like that Enik was once more drug through thee earth and brought back into  the base coughing and gasping for air.  _ Okay, I get why they drug me through the earth this time, but...Wait... _

 

“You didn’t need to drag me underground the first time…” Enik stated. Both sides of Zetsu smirked. 

 

“What? We were just doing something nice.  **Might as well get some fun out of it.** ” Enik’s brow furrowed with confusion.

 

“I’m still not sure I understand why you did this.”

 

“Just consider it a thank you for cleaning our room, **without complaint,** **or bitching.** ”

 

Then just like that he was gone. It dawned on Enik that there might be more to him than she first thought.  _ Shit, I better not have stockholm. _ Enik took a quick look around to see where Zetsu had dropped her off. Bastards didn’t even take her back to where she started. With a facial twitch she also realized that she was again covered in earth. With an annoyed sigh Enik took her sweet ass time making her way to a shower, but on the way she heard the familiar growl of rubble that meant the base entrance was being opened. Quickly but quietly Enik darted around a few turns and skidded to a halt before she was seen. It was Pein. In his arms was an unconscious woman with blue hair and tattered blood soaked clothes. She looked like she’d been through hell. Pein didn’t even look her way as he darted right past Enik toward the infirmary. Leaving Enik confused as to who she was and why she look familiar. 

 

* * *

 

Pein sat outside the infirmary. Why? He wasn’t sure. Sasori had declared she was okay, and nothing too bad had happened to her, so why not go back to his office?  Because he was waiting for her to wake up. But why not wait in the room? He wasn’t sure to that either. He supposed he was sitting out there trying to sort something out. Like, why he was so freaked out. Konan was his partner sure, and they were in a relationship, which was physical. But it was times like these-not when they fell asleep in each others arms, or lazy days when neither spoke to each other but basked in each others presence-it was these moment when he had to think. What would happen if he were to lose her. Why did she have effects on him in ways he didn’t understand. And most importantly, why did he like her so much.

 

This thought often plagued his mind, and never gave him any rest. Did he truly like Konan because  _ he  _ liked her. Or because Yahiko was in love with her? Or was it that Nagato was in love with her? It was true Pein didn’t understand love in the slightest, it wasn’t his purpose too, but he never understood what his affection toward her was, or who it really belonged to. Was it Yahiko’s? Nagato’s? Both? Neither? Pein hated the idea of his affection spawning from the body of the person he possessed. Ha also hated the idea of being Nagato’s puppet to love Konan in his place since he could not. He hated both of those because they only gave him shadows of what love really was. Something that was just beyond his grasp. As a god it sickened him. He liked-or rather hated less-the idea that his enigmatic affection was his own. What he couldn’t stand was not knowing which theory was correct. 

 

Hearing footsteps Pein looked up. Coming through the hall was Enik carrying a tray. She looked unfazed by any of what had been happening. She probably wasn’t concerned with it. Logically he understood why that would be, but for some reason that angered him. Seeing him glare as she approached Enik avoided eye contact by looking down. She was about to go into the infirmary.

 

“Stop.” He said, stopping her. “What do you think you are doing?” 

 

“Kazuma gave me some soup for Konan.” Enik responded without facing him. Pein looked at the near black broth with large chunks of vegetables and cretaceous meat sticking out with skepticism.

 

“What’s in it?” Hearing the unsure sound of his voice, Enik turned towards him.

 

“Despite the temptation of bad luck, it’s some of the soup we’re supposed to have tomorrow, though I doubt much worse can happen than what already has.” Pein glared at her darkly.

 

“That’s not what I meant.” He seethed, trying not to let his temper slip. Enik avoided his eyes.

 

“It’s got vegetables, shrimp, crab, and lobster in it.”

 

“Why is it black?” Pein asked with a curled lip.

 

“It’s a mineral soup.” Enik explained as if it were obvious.

 

“You put dirt in this?!”

 

“ _No._ Minerals. It’s good for you.” She said in a defensive matter-of-fact-just-drop-it kind of way. 

 

“So hows it taste?” Enik gave a shrug like it couldn’t be helped.

 

“Not sure, I haven’t had any yet and Kazuma had to make a lot of substitutions with the ingredients. It could taste like anything at this point.” Well, Pein trusted Kazuma’s cooking at least. Looking down at the tray he noticed a few more item. A glass of juice, a loaf of bread made to be eaten with the soup, and one of the small cakes that was for tomorrow. There was also one of Enik’s weird little tiki’s and a incense candle. 

 

“What are these for?” Pein questioned. Once again Enik shrugged.

 

“Everyones at the fire place, and if their not getting friendly with each other, their worrying over her. If it’ll shut ‘em up, I figured this wouldn’t hurt couldn’t hurt.” Pein’s brow softened. It was a poor execution, but a somewhat nice gesture all the same.    
  


“Getting friendly?” 

 

“Yeah, everyones messing around like they're all good friends...Aside form Sasori, Kakuzu, and Itachi, who’er just kind of...there.”

 

“Is that not what you do on such an occasion?”

 

“Yeah, it is but-”

 

“Do you have an issue with that?” Enik glared.

 

“Don't try your mind games-”

 

“I was merely asking a question.” Pein cut off. After a moment Enik sighed and looked away. 

 

“No, not really. But I do when Kazuma and Tobi won’t leave me alone trying to get me to join.” 

 

“Hm.” Was all Pein had to say.

 

“So can I give Konan the food or not?”

 

“Very Well, give me the tray and I’ll make sure she gets it when she wakes up.”

 

“Alright.” Enik said handing him the tray and leaving.

 

Whether she knew it or not, Pein had just gotten a little more insight from Enik than their most recent session. He hadn’t gotten a single thing from the last session, but from this he had gotten that she felt uncomfortable being around people who all know each other well. Granted that was common in a lot of people, but it was something, useful to know. It was reassuring that she had some normal features rattling around in that mind of hers. Then there was the matter of the voodoo tiki. Yes, for her today was a day of superstition, but that didn’t mean anyone else actually believed any of it. And Pein was sure she knew that, so providing Konan with some good luck charms wouldn’t do a thing to ‘get everyone to shut up’. That would mean one of two things. Either she really was trying to help Konan. Or she was hoping a speedy recovery would quiet everyone down, if it really did bother her. He couldn’t say for sure, he still knew little of her other than a few mannerisms, and that she locked everything up inside. At least around him she locked everything up. Perhaps another talk with Kazuma would prove fruitful. 

 

However, Pein’s thoughts were interrupted by a soft chuckle coming from in the infirmary. Acting on impulse Pein pushed the door open and went straight to Konan’s side. She was lying limp in the bed, her eyes were still closed, and the sight of her in such a battered and bruised state would’ve clenched at his heart if it weren’t for the soft smile that lit up her face. She rarely smiled. Even for him sometimes. 

 

“Does she always get away with so much?” Pein was surprised those were the first words that had come from Konan’s mouth. But she had noticed none the less his leniency for Enik’s behavior.

 

“I found that gaining trust rather than fear would be more productive for extracting information.” Konan didn’t look sold.

 

“ _ Really? _ ”

 

“...Kazuma took an interest in her.” He admitted. Konan chuckled affectionately.

 

“That explains it. I suppose it’s good for her be around more girls.” Pein was almost tempted to join in laughing with her. 

 

“She called Enik much worse before calling her friend.” 

 

“Hm?”

 

“A couple weeks ago emotions ran close to the skin. They could barely stay in a room with one another for about a week.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“Kazuma was in one of her moods, and provoked Enik into finally snapping about everything. Once it was resolved, suddenly their friends. I think. Enik’s still keeping everyone at arms length.”

 

“That figures.” Both remained silent as Pein sat in a chair next to Konan’s bed. With some hesitance Pein reached out held Konan’s hand. It felt odd for him. But it also felt...Right. After some brief contemplation, he stroke the top of her hand with his thumb. Though soon he just couldn’t take acting like nothing had happened. 

 

“...What happened out there Konan?” She sighed.

 

“I almost made it back here...I took out all five with ease...But that sixth…He sealed off my chakra before I even realized he was there…” Pein sighed and stopped stroking her hand. He feared as much, but just needed it to be confirmed. 

 

“I’m sure you’ve realized by now correct?” Konan gave a grim hollow nod. 

 

“Sasori says theres a good chance that it’s just temporary. The more your chakra system fixes itself the better you should be able to see...Until then you're on medical leave.” Konan remained motionless. Hesitantly Pein brought up another subject for the matter. “...Sasori also mentioned another problem of yours...He didn’t specify what it was, just that you needed to discuss it with him.”

 

“...It was taken care of on the mission. That’s all he needs to know.” A moment of silence descended over them. 

 

“What happened to him Pein?” Peins lip curled ruefully in disgust.

 

“The coward was far gone by the time I reached you. There was only time to get you back to the base, or go after him…” Pein trailed off. He sort of felt like he had failed. 

 

“And the others?”

 

“Hn. I sent Zetsu to pick them up. Suffice to say he won’t be going hunting this week.” He deadpanned. The two chuckled a little and Pein remained in the room with the temporarily blind ninja for the rest of the night.

 

* * *

 

Enik yawned and with lead-like legs, her sleeping bag tucked under her arm, traveled to the room with her makeshift sanctuary waiting for the night. The door creaked like hell when she shoved the rusted hinges shut. Enik propped the two bones up against the door in an ex and went over to the tented table she was going to sleep under. The candles were still going strong, and looked like they would still last all night. Taking comfort in that Enik rolled her sleeping bag out under the table and before calling it a night gave one final stretch. Her spine popped in several places earning a content groan of approval, then she spread the ashes she had left on the table over the top of everything. As Enik crawled under the table and into her covers she felt at ease. All in all, today wasn’t bad, and on top of that, the bad feeling she had, had passed. It was unfortunate what happened to that Konan lady, Enik didn’t really have anything against her since she hadn’t been around for most of her stay, but something was bound to happen today. And that just happened to be it. 

 

Enik had at some point drifted off to sleep soon after lying down. The problem was that she woke back up. Every other night Enik’s sleeping bag had kept her toasty, so when she woke up from a particularly violent bout of shivers it was a little alarming. That was sign one. The next thing she realized was that the candles were out. Sign two. Getting wary Enik reluctantly checked her watch for the time… It was 3:37 in the mourning. Enik had woken up in the death hour. Sign three. Trying not to make a sound she sat up and clutched her garlic necklace. The white covers of her tent moved making her tense up. They continued to shift as if their was a breeze making paralyzing apprehension set into Eniks very core. 

 

As the table covers were blown higher and higher, with dread Enik saw two feet. Something was standing only a few feet away. Enik’s eyes widened. Then the tent covers settled and it was silent.  _ Way _ to silent. Enik cringed and shrank in on herself when suddenly the table was flipped and thrown across the room hitting the wall. In shock Enik looked up to see a rugged looking man standing just outside the salt circle she had made. He was tall and clad in black furs that matched his long wild hair. His eyes were big, red, and menacing and what skin was visible was coated with knicks and scars from who knows what. He had a soft smile, and for some reason the most frightening thing about him was the fact that he had on large hoop earrings. Not the large scythe in his hands, but the ear rings. For some reason seeing someone so scary pull that off just amplifies how much scarier they are. Enik was frozen, her muscles tensed, and eyes wide. The man just stood there. 

 

Then Enik blinked and he was gone. She remained frozen until the heavy door that had been so hard to close all the way fell off its hinges into the hallway. In an instant Enik jumped to her feet and frantically looked around. She couldn’t see anyone or anything. She checked herself over to find she was unscathed. Then she noticed it. Inside her salt circle where she had spread the ash all over something had moved the ash into a triangle around where she had slept, perfectly so that she was inside it. 

 

* * *

 

Kazuma woke with a start to her bedroom door being thrown open. Through the dark she saw and tired agitated looking Enik throw her sleeping bag on her cot and almost violently get situated in it to go to sleep. Confused, as Kazuma had not known where Enik had gone to sleep that night she groggily asked,

 

“E-enik? What happened?”

 

“I  _ don’t _ wanna talk about it.” She said sternly. Then both went back to sleep.

 


End file.
